Temporal and Spatial Heterogeneity of Soil Erosion and a Quantitative Analysis of its Determinants in the Three Gorges Reservoir Area, China

As the most typical ecologically fragile area in South China, the Three Gorges Reservoir Area (TGRA) suffers from water and soil loss, which has threatened the local ecological environment. Understanding the spatial heterogeneity of soil erosion and exploring its determinants are of great significance in preventing soil erosion and maintaining ecological sustainability in the TGRA. This study investigates the spatial heterogeneity of soil erosion and quantitatively identifies the determinants in the TGRA based on the Chinese Soil Loss Equation (CSLE) and geographical detector method. This study concluded that the soil erosion status generally improved from 1990 to 2015, showing an increasing trend from 1990 to 2000 and a decreasing trend from 2000 to 2010. Slope, land use, and vegetation coverage were the dominant individual factors affecting soil erosion in the TGRA. For the interaction factor, the combinations of land-use type and slope and vegetation coverage and slope were the key determinants, explaining 68.7% and 63.1% of the spatial heterogeneity of soil erosion in the TGRA from 1990 to 2015, respectively. Moderate and higher levels of soil erosion occurred in areas where the slope was greater than 25°. Among the land-use types, dry land and bare land were prone to soil erosion. These findings reveal that land-use type and vegetation coverage should be considered for the effective prevention of soil erosion, and cultivation on sloped farmland should be prohibited, especially on slopes higher than 25° in the TGRA.