ABSTRACT
Alternate action of wind and water erosion (AAWW) is a key erosion process in a semi-arid region. AAWW is very typical in the transition zone from water erosion to wind erosion in the Loess Plateau of China. This paper reports on research located in the Shenfu-Dongsheng coal mining area in the central part of a typical transition zone. AAWW temporal change and spatial distribution in different scales and the relation between AAWW and topographic evolution are studied using field investigation and dynamic monitoring data. Results showed that temporal change of AAWW in a year is controlled mostly by distribution of wind velocity and rainfall. AAWW is the application of water erosion forces to an erosive landscape formed by wind erosion which lasts a relatively short time and the application of wind erosion forces, over a long time period, to the landscape that was formed by water erosion. AAWW spatial distribution has three types 1) slope scale, 2) small watershed scale, and 3) regional scale. These spatial distributions are different due to different erosion patterns, terrain differences, erosion types and climates. In AAWW process, the erosion, transportation, and sedimentation of one erosion agent prepares a material base for the other erosion agent to act on, which forms specific geomorphic features of AAWW and produces more sediment yield than that of only the water agent acting alone.
