Intense anthropogenic disturbance modified the vegetation cover and local landforms in the Loess Plateau, China. Understanding sediment dynamic responses to land use change is of vital importance to ensure sustainable catchment management. To meet this challenge, the proposed study will combine indices of connectivity and landscape evolution modelling to analyse (i) connectivity at large spatial scale; (2) compare structural and functional connectivity; (3) evaluate the impact of land use changes and (4) check dams on sediment redistribution. Thus, the study starts broad and gradually zooms in, both in terms of spatial scale as well as in process detail and complexity.