Wind erosion hazard assessment of the Mongolian Plateau using FCM and GIS techniques

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 61; no. 4; pp. 689 - 697
• Main Authors: Shi, Huading, Gao, Qingxian, Qi, Yongqing, Liu, Jiyuan, Hu, Yunfeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.08.2010; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Areal geology; Areal geology. Maps; Biogeosciences; Cluster analysis; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental Science and Engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Fuzzy logic; Geochemistry; Geographic information systems; Geologic maps, cartography; Geology; Geophysics; Hydrology/Water Resources; Marine and continental quaternary; Original Article; Soils; Surficial geology; Terrestrial Pollution; Wind; Inner Mongolia China; Far East; Asia; China; Wind erosion hazard; means clustering; Fuzzy; Mongolian Plateau; landscapes; risk assessment; maps; soil moisture; geographic information systems; vegetation; degradation; wind energy; spatial distribution; sand; plateaus; relief; Fuzzy c-means clustering; soil erosion; soils; landform evolution; storms; wind erosion
• ISSN: 1866-6280; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-009-0381-1

The most serious environmental problems of the Mongolian Plateau are land degradation and sand storms caused by wind erosion, but the evaluation of wind erosion at regional scales has been a difficult process in wind erosion research. In this study, fuzzy c -means clustering (FCM) was used to assess the spatial pattern of wind erosion hazard on the Mongolian Plateau. By fuzzy clustering four main wind erosion factors (vegetation cover, average degree of land surface relief, degree of soil dryness and intensity of wind energy), wind erosion hazard was classified into six grades. Results show that FCM can effectively integrate related information between wind erosion and environmental factors, which provides the basis for predictive mapping of wind erosion hazard. Spatial patterns of wind erosion hazard indicate a gradual trend of increasing hazard in the Mongolian Plateau from east to west. Similar patterns were also found in NDVI and soil dryness, indicating that soil moisture and vegetation are the most important factors in the formation of wind erosion hazard. In addition, the distribution of different levels of wind erosion hazard is basically consistent with the regional distribution of landscape vegetation types in the Mongolian Plateau.