Sediment Transfer through the Fluvial System (Proceedings of a symposium held in Moscow, August 2004). IAHS Publ. 288, 2004, 67–74

1 Chengdu Institute of Mountain Hazards and Environment, CAS, Chengdu 610041, China

2 State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dry Land Farming on the Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, CAS & MWR, Yangling 712100, China

Abstract The impact of ceasing cultivation on specific sediment yields and relative sediment contributions from the gully and inter-gully areas within a small catchment in the Rolling Loess Plateau of China has been examined by comparing the volume and ¹³⁷Cs content of sediments deposited in a reservoir before and after 1993. It is suggested that compaction of the formerly ploughed soils caused their erosion resistance to increase but reduced infiltration rates. Rates of soil loss from the inter gully areas therefore decreased but runoff increased. Increased runoff caused increased erosional activity within the receiving gully areas and an increase in the total sediment yield from the catchment.