Intensification of agricultural practices during the second half of the 20th century has accelerated soil erosion around the world. Although this phenomenon has been widely investigated through a combination of monitoring or modelling at short timescales (<10 years), few records are available for reconstructing the trajectory of soil erosion during longer periods (i.e. the 20th century). Analysis of sediment deposits in reservoirs provides a valuable tool for reconstructing these trends and for identifying the driving factors that may have disturbed the sediment cascade after 1950. Accordingly, sediment cores (n = 5) were collected in a reservoir located at the outlet of an intensively cultivated lowland catchment (24.5 km²) representative of those found in central France. Natural (excess lead-210) and artificial radionuclides (caesium-137, americium-241) enable dating of these sedimentary sequences. The corresponding sediment accumulation and erosion rates were calculated for the 1928–2017 period. In addition, daily rainfall records, land use change and agricultural field patterns were reconstructed for the period comprised between 1950 and 2017, based on weather records, digitalized aerial images (n = 10) and agricultural census data (n = 6). Results showed substantial acceleration of erosion rates after 1928 (+500 %). This increase occurred simultaneously with major landscape changes that led to an increase in plot size (+465 %) and decrease of the surface occupied by grassland and fallow land (-93 %). Both parameters correlated strongly with the erosion rates reconstructed in this catchment (r = 0.87 and r = 0.95 for the plot size and grassland/fallow land surfaces, respectively). In addition, spectral analyses of daily rainfall records and mass accumulation rates, estimated with a high temporal resolution from the sediment core tomography scanner data, showed concomitant short (i.e., 1 year) and long-term (i.e., 16 years) cycles between mass accumulation rates and rainfall. Overall, this study demonstrated the long-term impact of human activities and rainfall dynamics on soil erosion. Between 1928 and 2017, erosion rates increased seven-fold in this lowland catchment, until reaching 31.5 t km⁻² yr^-1 by 2017. Although landscape modifications likely drove the pluri-decadal trends of erosion, this study has also demonstrated the major role played by rainfall intensity on annual sediment dynamics.

20世纪下半叶农业实践的集约化加剧了世界各地的水土流失。尽管已通过在较短的时间范围（<10年）内通过监视或建模相结合的方式对这种现象进行了广泛研究，但很少有记录可用于重建较长时期（即20世纪）的水土流失轨迹。对水库中沉积物沉积物的分析提供了一个宝贵的工具，可用于重新构造这些趋势以及确定可能在1950年之后干扰沉积物级联的驱动因素。因此，沉积物芯（n = 5）被收集在位于水库出口处的水库中。集中耕种的低地流域（24.5平方公里），代表法国中部。天然（超铅210）和人造放射性核素（铯137，Americium-241）可以对这些沉积序列进行测年。计算了1928年至2017年期间相应的沉积物堆积和侵蚀速率。此外，根据天气记录，数字化航拍图像（n = 10）和农业普查数据（n = 6），重建了1950年至2017年期间的每日降雨量记录，土地利用变化和农田模式。结果表明，在1928年之后，侵蚀率大大提高了（+500％）。这种增加与主要景观变化同时发生，导致土地面积增加（+465％），草地和休耕地所占面积减少（-93％）。这两个参数都与该流域重建的侵蚀速率密切相关（对于样地面积和草地/休耕地，r = 0.87，r = 0.95，分别）。此外，根据沉积物芯层析成像扫描仪数据的高时间分辨率估算的每日降雨记录和质量累积速率的频谱分析显示，质量之间的周期较短（即1年）和长期（即16年）积累率和降雨。总的来说，这项研究证明了人类活动和降雨动态对土壤侵蚀的长期影响。在1928年至2017年期间，这个低地流域的侵蚀速率增加了7倍，直到达到31.5吨公里 这项研究证明了人类活动和降雨动态对土壤侵蚀的长期影响。在1928年至2017年期间，这个低地流域的侵蚀速率增加了7倍，直到达到31.5吨公里 这项研究证明了人类活动和降雨动态对土壤侵蚀的长期影响。在1928年至2017年期间，这个低地流域的侵蚀速率增加了7倍，直到达到31.5吨公里到2017年为⁻² yr ^-1。尽管景观变化可能推动了侵蚀的年代际变化，但这项研究还证明了降雨强度在年度沉积物动力学中的重要作用。