Monitoring and analyzing the soil erosion changes in northern china during the latest twenty years a case study in upper Chao River basin of China

This research integrated the Rivised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model with RS and GIS techniques to quantify soil erosion risk. Based on two times RS images of Landsat in 1980 and 1995, the area and the quantity changes of soil erosion in upper Chao River basin of China was studied. And the effect on soil erosion caused by landuse change and rainfall since 1980s was researched and compared using principle component analyses. The RUSLE factors were developed from local rainfall, topographic, soil classification and land use data in different periods. This study proved that the integration of soil erosion models with GIS and RS was a simple and effective tool for soil conservation.