Abstract: Wind erosion is the main cause leading to land desertification in the north agro-pastoral transition zone of China,which is very urgent to be effectively controlled. The aim of this paper was to analyze the impact of different combinations of surface conditions on the wind erosion risk and its spatial distribution in arid and semi-arid regions. A landscape scale transect was chosen in Xilinguole grassland,160 investigating and sampling points with an interval of 400 m were designed to collect quantitative data of 12 parameters,including slope position, slope gradient,slope aspect,slope shape,soil moisture content,soil bulk density,sand content,vegetation height,vegetation coverage,crust coverage,crust thickness and moss coverage,for wind erosion analysis. These 12 parameters were then classified into three groups including topographic feature,soil property and land cover. The weight of each parameter was calculated using expert experience and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP), and the wind erosion risk and spatial distribution map of the whole transect were then achieved based on calculation and spatial interpolation using ArcGIS. Results show that wind erosion risk varied obviously in the transect, and the percentages of areas with light risk(0 < risk value≤0.45),moderate risk(0.45 < risk value≤0.5) and high risk(0.5 < risk value≤1) were 68.7%,20.3% and 11.0%,respectively. Wind erosion risk in the western region was the highest,followed by that in the eastern region and the middle. In the eastern region,the wind erosion risk was high in the south while relatively low in the north. By comparison with the measured wind erosion amount based on ¹³⁷Cs analysis in the transect,the wind erosion risk agreed well with the measured wind erosion results. In order to prevent wind erosion,the impact of human activities on the natural environment should be reduced, such as decreasing grazing intensity in the grassland and taking conservational tillage in the arable land. This study analyzed the current wind erosion situation of the Xilinguole grassland at landscape scale,which could combine the advantages of the plot scale and regional scale. It can not only explore the risk of wind erosion and its differentiation on relatively large spatial scale,but also can ensure the precision and reliability of the results. The study area is a typical transect in the Xilingele grassland with representative topography and land use conditions, and the AHP based analysis of the wind erosion risk at landscape scale is helpful to provide scientific basis for reasonable land use management and wind erosion prevention in such areas.

Key words: wind erosion, risk analysis, AHP, Xilinguole grassland, landscape scale