Soil erosion and its induced rocky desertification

as the most serious ecological problem in Karst Plateau

is the biggest obstacle and threat to the construction of ecological civilization. In this study

taking a typical karst plateau mountainous City

i.e. Guiyang City

as the object

using RUSLE model

adopting the global and local spatial autocorrelation

and Getis—Ord G

i

*

methods based on Exploratory Spatial Data Analysis (ESDA—GIS)

the soil erosion of Guiyang City in 2008

2013

and 2018 wa

s assessed. The spatial-temporal distribution and changes were analyzed

and the impact of vegetation coverage factor and rainfall factor on the change of soil erosion was revealed. The results showed that: (1) The soil erosion of Guiyang City was effectively controlled from 2008 to 2018

and the average soil erosion modulus decreased from 819.11 t/(km

2

·a) in 2008 to 70.14 t/(km

2

·a) in 2018. The soil erosion intensity was mainly slight erosion at present

showing a deterioration trend in 2013—2018. (2) The spatial distribution and evolution of soil erosion in Guiyang City displayed an obvious spatial aggregation effect. The Global Moran’s I index ranged from 0.125 to 0.280

but the aggregation trend was characterized by "overall weakening and small diffusion". The erosion hotspots was mainly distributed in Qingzhen City

Huaxi District

Kaiyang County and Xiuwen County

as well as areas with an altitude of 1 200~1 300 m or a slope of 8°~15°. (3) The contribution of vegetation cover factor to the changes of soil erosion area was about 74%~92%

which was the leading and controlling factor of soil erosion

while the contribution of rainfall erosivity factor was only about 7.5%~26.0%. This research could provide the important scientific basis for the comprehensive control of soil erosion and rock desertification

the optimization of land space

and the construction of ecological civilization city in the Karst region.