Comprehensive analysis of changes to catchment slope properties in the high-sediment region of the Loess Plateau, 1978–2010

To control soil erosion and restore the degraded environment in the Loess Plateau, a large number of measures related to soil and water conservation have been employed that have profoundly affected catchment properties. This study constructed three indicators to characterize changes to the catchment slope, proposed both a method for a regression analysis of adjacent images and a sequence model, and applied multisource remotely sensed images and GIS spatial clustering analysis technologies to extract thematic information and comprehensively analyze the catchment change characteristics. The results indicate that the catchment slope properties changed significantly. At catchment scale, the average values of ARC, DVC and ART were 6.43%, 25.57% and 4.30%, respectively. There were six clustering types of catchment slope property changes. The maximum and minimum of the average similarities of the clustering types were 0.992 and 0.935. Each slope control measures had a distinct effect on catchment slope; the dominating factor of each clustering type was identified as: Type 1: D-VC, Type 2: D-VCLU, Type 3: D-LUVC, Type 4: D-TAVC, Type 5: D-TAC and Type 6: D-MFC. Type 5 and Type 1 covered the largest areas, respectively occupying 37.28% and 31.01%. Catchment slope property changes also had distinct types that depended on their geomorphological conditions. These findings provide a useful basis from which to further study catchment slope hydrological and soil erosion processes.