Modeling and Prediction of Water Loss and Soil Erosion for High-relief Mountainous Region: Case Study of Qamdo Region

Abstract

Water loss and soil erosion is serious in regions with high mountains and deep valleys such as the Hengduan Mountains region in eastern Tibet.It is crucial to investigate the characteristics and predict the tendency of water loss and soil erosion in such regions.This study adopted the digital watershed model developed at Tsinghua University to model soil erosion in the Qamdo region,Tibet,as a case study.Scenario analysis was performed to explore the impacts of changes in precipitation,land use,and vegetation coverage due to climate change and human activities.It is shown that soil erosion will be significantly enhanced by increased precipitation;the decrease in precipitation or increase in vegetation coverage ratio will reduce soil erosion.Planting trees and growing grass could effectively control soil erosion,but the feasibility of "conversion from farmland to forest and/or grassland" remains for future research.