EAGER: Comparative Study of Critical Zones of Intensively Managed Loess Landscapes in China and United States

EAGER：中美黄土集约化景观关键带比较研究

• 批准号: 1748573
• 负责人: Praveen Kumar
• 金额: $ 5万
• 依托单位: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1748573&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: EAGER; Comparative; Study; Critical; Zones

Midwestern United States and Western China are among the largest food producing regions of the world, and they have been extensively modified for this purpose through human activities. Although they have different geologic history, they share a common attribute as both are overlain by wind deposited soil, also called loess. The glacial legacy in the U.S. was created in relatively flat landscape that has historically supported long residence times of water, organic matter, and chemical constituents. This has been significantly altered to support industrial agriculture. On the other hand, the loess plateau in China exhibits sharp gradients resulting in small residence times and rapid transport of water and sediment. While the primary challenge in the U.S. has been to drain the landscape through tile drain and channelization to make it suitable for agriculture, the loess plateau faces the opposite challenge of constraining the flow of water and sediment. The objective of the proposed work is to develop a predictive understanding of the dynamics of Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP) under anthropogenic impacts, and compare and contrast them to that in intensively managed landscapes (IML) in the Midwestern U.S. Both IML and CLP are in critical food production regions of the U.S. and China, respectively, and have experienced intensive human alternations. The joint study of CLP and IML, using Critical Zone Observatories (CZOs) in the respective environments, proposed here in collaboration with the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Science (IEE/CAS) in Xi'an, will foster collaboration and joint exploration of loess systems with very different geologic and human impact histories. The project will support a graduate student who will develop a unique understanding and appreciation of the contrasting landscapes in the U.S. and China.The IML in the U.S. Midwest has been transformed from a primarily transformation-dominated system, characterized by long residence times of water, carbon, and nutrients, to a transport-dominated system characterized by fast movement of water, sediment, carbon, and nutrients through the landscapes and tile-drains into receiving water bodies. Such a transformer-to-transporter framework through land use conversion is applicable to low-gradient landscapes in temperate climate such as those in North America and northern Europe that have been sculpted through glaciation. In contrast, this study hypotheses that the Chinese loess plateau is experiencing a transporter-to-transformer conversion in the highly dissected landscapes, with semi-arid to semi-humid climate, due to the large scale government led effort to reduce erosion by reclaiming agricultural land on hillslopes for re-vegetation and filling valleys to create land for agriculture that are less prone to erosion. This land use conversion, which has historically functioned as transporter, to transformer by increasing residence time through human action is prominent in many parts of the CLP. In both the IML and the CLP CZOs, the landscapes are maintained out of equilibrium through human infrastructure and energy input to achieve societal goals. The exploration of the near-surface environment through the establishment of Critical Zone observatories is becoming wide spread across the globe. This provides tremendous opportunities for using place-based studies to draw generalized conclusion and develop principles that are broadly applicable, and also establish distinguishing characteristics of local behavior. IMLCZO is unique in understanding the impact of human modification in the Critical Zone, particularly in the loess surficial environment developed over the last 10,000 years to 500,000 years in the United States. In contrast, the Chinese loess plateau has formed over 20 million years and has dramatically different landscape, such as dissected landscape caused by high erosion. However, this landscape is also under significant human influence and is actively being re-sculpted to sustain agriculture, reduce erosion, and conserve natural vegetation. A comparative study between the two environments will allow to advance science by developing generalized principles that better support sustainable practices.

美国中西部和西部是世界上最大的食品生产地区之一，通过人类活动为此目的进行了广泛的修改。尽管它们具有不同的地质历史，但它们具有共同的属性，因为两者都被风沉积的土壤覆盖，也称为黄土。美国的冰川遗产是在相对平坦的景观中创建的，该景观历史上支持了较长的水，有机物和化学成分的停留时间。这已经发生了重大改变以支持工业农业。另一方面，中国的黄土高原表现出尖锐的梯度，导致了较小的停留时间以及水和沉积物的快速运输。尽管美国的主要挑战是通过瓷砖排水和通道化以使其适合农业，但Loess Plateau面临着限制水和沉积物流量的相反挑战。拟议工作的目的是在人为影响下对中国黄土高原（CLP）的动态发展进行预测理解，并将其与美国中西部的IML和CLP中的强化管理景观（IML）进行比较和对比。美国和中国的关键食品生产地区分别经历了密集的人类交替。在各个环境中，使用关键区域观测站（CZO）的CLP和IML的联合研究在这里与XI'AN中国科学院（IEE/CAS）的地球环境协会合作，将促进合作与关节探索具有非常不同的地质和人类影响历史的黄土系统。该项目将支持一名研究生，他将对美国和中国的对比鲜明的景观产生独特的理解和欣赏。碳和养分以运输主导的系统为特征，其特征是水，沉积物，碳和养分通过景观和瓷砖供应到接收水体。通过土地使用转换的这种变压器到转运剂框架适用于温带气候中的低梯度景观，例如北美和北欧通过冰川化雕刻的景观。相比之下，这项研究假设中国黄土高原正在经历高度剖析的景观中的转运者转换器转换，由于大规模政府的大规模政府努力通过农业农业恢复侵蚀，而半人类的气候半干旱到半人类的气候登陆山坡上的重新植被和填充山谷，为农业造成的土地不太容易发生侵蚀。这种土地使用转化在历史上一直用作运输蛋白，通过通过人类行动来增加停留时间在CLP的许多地方都很突出。在IML和CLP Czos中，通过人类基础设施和能源投入以实现社会目标，景观都无法平衡。通过建立关键区域观测者对近地面环境的探索正在广泛遍及全球。这为使用基于位置的研究得出广泛的结论和制定广泛适用的原则提供了巨大的机会，并建立了当地行为的区别特征。 Imlczo在理解人类修饰在关键区域的影响方面是独一无二的，特别是在过去10，000年到500，000年中的黄土浮雕环境中。 相比之下，中国黄土高原已经形成了2000万年，并且存在截然不同的景观，例如高侵蚀引起的解剖景观。 但是，这种景观也受到了重大的人类影响力，并正在积极重新雕刻以维持农业，减少侵蚀和保护自然植被。两种环境之间的比较研究将允许通过开发更好地支持可持续实践的广义原则来推进科学。

项目成果

Mapping subsurface tile drainage systems with thermal images

• DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2019.01.031
• 发表时间: 2019-06
• 期刊: Agricultural Water Management
• 影响因子: 6.7
• 作者: D. Woo;Homin Song;Praveen Kumar

Critical transition in critical zone of intensively managed landscapes

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ancene.2018.04.002
• 发表时间: 2017-12
• 期刊: Anthropocene
• 影响因子: 3.6
• 作者: Praveen Kumar;Phong V. V. Le-Phong-V.-V.-Le-2239894723;A. Papanicolaou;Bruce L. Rhoads;Alison M. Anders;A. Stumpf;Christopher G. Wilson;E. Bettis;N. Blair;Adam S. Ward;T. Filley;Henry Lin;L. Keefer;Donald A. Keefer;Yu-Feng Lin;M. Muste;Todd V. Royer;E. Foufoula‐Georgiou;P. Belmont