The Distribution of Soil Erosion in China at the End of the 20th Century
20世纪末中国土壤侵蚀的空间分布特征

This paper discussed the Spatial Distribution of Soil Ero si on in China at the end of the 20th century basing on the second nat ional soil erosion survey. The result indicated that soil erosion is still the first environmental problem in China. Soil erosion mainly oc curs in the western region of China, and the slight erosion type exe rts great impact on spatial erosion pattern. The distribution of hydraulic erosion shows the impact of landforms, namely, slight hydraulic erosion mainly occurs in mountainous and hilly areas, and half of the serious erosion occurs on the loess landforms. Farmland, forest land and grassland are the major landuse types of the slight hydraulic erosion, while the serious hydraulic erosion and slight wind erosion are mainly distributed on grassland. Thus, the protection and rehabilitation of the grassland is a key to either hydraulic and wind erosion control. The loessal soil (a major t ype of cultivated soil developed from loess mother material) is facing the most serious threat of soil erosion in China's soil resources. Further discu ssion on soil erosion distribution needs more research on the method and r elevant data analysis.