Wind
erosion is the first step to land desertification, and it is obvious that a ccurate measurement and
estimation of
Wind erosion rate appears urgent and essen tial. Owing to the complexity, randomness and boundlessness of the processes, i t is difficult to measure or estimate wind erosion rate precisely at present. Cu r rent methods that include field observation, wind tunnel tests and wind erosion model have numerous limitations in their practicability, cost and accuracy. Mea n while, the world-fallout of 137
Cs associated with the nuclear tests d uring 1950s and 1970s has provided a valuable man-made tracer for studies of
soil erosion a nd sediment delivery, and since its first introduction in the 1970s, 137 Cs techn ique has found application in water erosion research, with profound accomplishme nts. But it was not applied to wind erosion until the 1990s and still remains i n adequate in this respect. Taking the
Gonghe Basin in Qinghai Province as the stu dy area, the paper attempts to introduce the 137 Cs method to study soi l wind er osion. After field survey and analysis of a large number of soil samples, the c ha racteristics of 137 Cs distribution over the whole study area and along the soil profile were found out, and the 137 Cs reference inventory of the area was calcul ated to be 2 691 78±196 08 Bq m -2 . By means of the 137 Cs mod el, the rate of wind erosion on the four sampling plots was estimated, and then the estimation method at the four points was extrapolated to the whole area. Thus the rate of wind e r
osion in the Gonghe Basin was figured out averaging 12 556 t hm -2 a -1 , which pas sed the test of erosion-deposition equilibrium at a relatively small error rate being less than 10%.
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