Temporal and spatial variation of soil moisture of small watershed in gully catchment of the Loess Plateau of China

Abstract

The temporal and spatial variation characteristics of soil moisture in typical slope and gully of Jiulongquangou small watershed were studied in the hilly and gully region of the Loess Plateau of China. The variation of soil moisture in the 0-30 cm layer on the surface of the hilly and gully region of the Loess Plateau is greater than the variation of soil moisture in each layer between 40 and 100 cm. In the study area, the model parameters such as coefficient of variation (Cv), nugget (C0), sill (C0+C), spatial degrees of freedom(C0/(C+C0)) and variable change can be used to quantitative analysis the spatial varying law. On the slope surface, the average soil water content and the coefficient of variation are negatively correlated, and can be approximated by an exponential function, while the two are positively correlated in the gully.