Runoff and Sediment Characteristics of Flood Events in the Chabagou Watershed on the Loess Plateau of China from 1959 to 2022

作者：Jingjing Xu, Chen Yin, Jianmei Yan, Pengfei Du, Wenxiang Liu, Qi Zhong, Yi Zhang, Zhe Qiao · 发表于：Land · 年份：2026 · DOI：10.3390/land15030419 · 被引用次数：1 · 研究领域：Soil erosion and sediment transport、Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes、Hydrology and Watershed Management Studies

Flood events are major drivers of soil erosion and sediment yield on the Loess Plateau, where extensive ecological restoration has been implemented. This study investigates runoff–sediment dynamics by analyzing 215 flood events recorded in the Chabagou watershed (1959–2022), with a focus on changes under intensifying restoration efforts. Using long-term hydrological and rainfall data, we applied cluster and discriminant analyses to classify flood events based on sediment hysteresis loops and evaluated variations across three management periods (1959–1979, 1980–1999, and 2000–2022), characterized by progressive increases in check dam construction and vegetation recovery. The results show that the floods characterized by short duration, low peak flow, and low sediment concentration were predominant, accounting for 77.7% of the recorded 215 events. A clear decreasing trend was observed, with average sediment yield and peak discharge declining by approximately 68% and 52%, respectively. Anticlockwise hysteresis loops were most common (45.6%), followed by complex (27.9%) and figure-of-eight loops (23.7%). The proportion of figure-of-eight loops increased notably from 17% to 39%, indicating reduced sediment connectivity due to large-scale ecological restoration. Extreme rainfall events consistently produced complex hysteresis patterns, influenced mainly by rainfall intensity but increasingly modulated by human interventions. These results highlight adaptive watershed management str...