Information on erosive rainfall is key to predicting soil erosion.Average annual rainfall data from 231 weather stations were used to determine the spatial distribution of erosive rainfall.Daily rainfall and maximum 10 min intensity data from 17 weather stations were used to determine the seasonal distribution of erosive rainfall.Results showed that the erosivity of rainfall decreases from the southeast to the northwest of the Loess Plateau study region

with annual rainfall showing a similar pattern.From the 231 weather stations

the highest R value was more than 4000MJ?mm/( hm2.h.a)

while the lowest was 327 MJ.mm/(hm2.h.a).The percentage table of rainfall erosivity for a half month period was used to calculate soil erodibility and vegetation coverage factors.The seasonal distribution of erosive rainfall is very limited in the Loess Plateau.Of the 17 weather stations

the percentage of the sum of continual six-month erosive rainfall to annual erosive rainfall was from 66.9% to 96.4%.