Factors affecting landslides occurrence in agro-ecological zones in the Merek catchment, Iran

Part of the mountainous semi-arid areas of Iran is geologically and topographically susceptible to landslides. A study was conducted at the Merek catchment, Iran which is geologically characterized by limestone, sandstone, shale and marls so as to determine the factors responsible for the occurrence of landslides. In this study, geomorphological units within the catchment were mapped by overlapping geological, topographical, land use and erosion data, using satellite image and GIS. Rocks and soils were sampled within each unit to determine their physico-chemical and mineralogical properties. It was found that landslides have affected about 15% of the Merek catchment and that their occurrence were promoted by unstable soils, being eroded at the rate of 18.57 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹. These landslides were initiated by crack formation in areas having smectite, a mineral which can swell and contract, depending on the availability of water. Smectite is the dominant mineral in about 80% of the area affected by landslides. Low aggregate stability in the topsoil further promotes the occurrence of landslides. Field verification showed that landslides occur mainly in the forest where the canopy cover is less than 15% with slope of 10-40%. Deforestation, overgrazing and improper tillage practices were found to accelerate landslides in this catchment.     

Temporal and spatial variations of runoff and rainwash erosion on an agricultural field

This paper investigates the spatial and temporal variations of runoff, erosion and rate of sediment transport on an agricultural field submitted to natural rainfalls. The site, located in the Eastern Townships (Québec, Canada), is a corn field (10000 m²) where sheetwash erosion is active. Water (Q) and sediment (Qs) discharges were measured from June to October at eight locations on the field and for ten rainfall events. Analysis of the data was carried out on an aggregate data set and on the distributed measurements in time and space. The results showed that changes in vegetation, soil compaction and crusting are critical in determining temporal variations of runoff and erosion. Until August, the increase in soil compaction reduced infiltration capacity and depression storage and generated greater runoff for a given rainfall intensity (I). Sediment transport decreased as particle detachment is less likely to occur when vegetation breaks the drop impact and the soil surface is sealed. Later in the season, we observed an increase in sediment concentration associated with the presence of burrowing insects and harvest activity, providing loose sediments to the broken down surface. Intercepts and slopes of the relationship between Q and Qs also vary during the period of measurement. High sediment availability over the soil surface in June and October gives high intercept values. The slope of the relationship is more stable but difficult to estimate for extreme events (high values of I or low Q values) where the number of sampled points are small. During a rainfall, the response of the field is dominated by the topography and drainage area. The largest amount of runoff and erosion occurred on straight and steep slopes with small drainage areas, and on converging gentle slopes with large drainage areas. Although aggregate runoff and erosion values are decreasing with drainage area, parameters of the Qs-Q relationship for different locations on the field are not statistically different. These results bear important consequences for models of sheetwash erosion on agricultural fields.     

地貌发育阶段的定量研究

文章提出用临界侵蚀积分值作为划分流域发育阶段的定量指标,是对经典理论的发展,主要表现在:1)将地貌发育阶段纳入开放系统的概念之中;2)避免高程积分法在划分发育阶段上的不确定性;3)建立地貌发育阶段与流域物质迁移之间的定量关系;4)区分自然侵蚀和加速侵蚀。用文中的临界侵蚀方程对黄土高原丘陵沟壑区分析计算,得到临界侵蚀积分值为0.30和0.70,即当侵蚀积分值小于0.30寸,流域处于侵蚀早期;当侵蚀积分值大于0.30,小于0.70时,流域处于侵蚀中期;当侵蚀积分值大于0.70时,流域处于侵蚀晚期。对于纯自然侵蚀过程,与临界侵蚀积分值相对应的年代及侵蚀模数为7万年前,7008t/km~2·a和距今7.2万年以后,7008t/km~2·a。目前黄土高原丘陵沟壑区加速侵蚀所占比例为30％。     

An evaluation of the universal soil loss equation and field techniques for assessing soil erosion on a tropical alfisol in western Nigeria

Four techniques for soil erosion assessment were compared over two consecutive seasons for bare-fallow plots and a maize-cowpea sequence in 1985 at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. The techniques used were: tracer (aluminium paint), nails (16 and 25), the rill method, and the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Soil loss estimated by these techniques was compared with that determined using the runoff plot technique. There was significantly more soil loss (P < 0·01) in bare-fallow than in plots under maize (Zea mays) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). In the first season, soil loss from plots sown to maize was 40·2 Mg ha^?1 compared with 153·3 Mg ha^?1 from bare-fallow plots. In the second season, bare-fallow plots lost 87·5 Mg ha^?1 against 39·4 Mg ha^?1 lost from plots growing cowpea. The techniques used for assessing erosion had no influence on the magnitude of soil erosion and did not interfere with the processes of erosion. There was no significant difference (P < 0·05) between soil erosion determined by the nails and the runoff plot technique. Soil loss determined on six plots (three under maize, three bare-fallow) by the rill technique, at the end of the season, was significantly lower (P < 0·05) than that determined by the runoff plot technique. The soil loss estimated by the rill method was 143·2, 108·8 and 121·9 Mg ha^?1 for 11, 11, and 8 per cent slopes respectively, in comparison with 201·5, 162·0, and 166·4 Mg ha^?1 measured by the runoff plot method. Soil loss measured on three bare-fallow plots on 10 different dates by the rill technique was also significantly lower (P < 0·01) than that measured by the runoff plot. In the first season the USLE significantly underestimated soil loss. On 11, 11, and 8 per cent slopes, respectively, soil loss determined by the USLE was 77, 92, and 63 per cent of that measured by the runoff plot. However, in the second season there was no significant difference between soil loss determined by the USLE and that determined by the conventional runoff plot technique.     

Sedimentation in small-scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia: Its sources and management

Numerous irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) exhibit excessive sedimentation, resulting in underperformance and high maintenance costs. In the current study, a participatory monitoring program was used to investigate sediment causes and sources, measure the annual sediment load, and monitor desilting campaigns in two small scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia, Arata-Chufa (100 ha) and Ketar (430 ha), for three years (2016–2018). Sedimentation quantities were huge, where the annual river sediment influx ranged from 220 m³ for the Arata-Chufa scheme to 1,741 m³ for the Ketar scheme. On average 0.3 m³/m of sediment were removed from the main canal for Arata-Chufa costing 794 days of labor per year. In Ketar, sediment quantities were even greater: 1.1 m³/m was removed requiring 3,118 days of labor per year. The sediment influx from the river source amounts to up to 95% for Arata-Chufa and moderately reaches 46% for Ketar, with the remainder of the sediment entering with overland erosion flows. Farmers reported increased sedimentation over time and difficulty paying operation and maintenance fees instead preferring to contribute labor for the desilting campaigns. Sedimentation management is fragile and mainly involves frequent desilting campaigns and unharmonized efforts to reduce overland sediment inflows. Factors contributing to sediment deposition include mild longitudinal bed slopes, the location of the intake, canal layout, and lack of canal banks for protection against surface water inflow in addition to sub-optimal canal operations. Excessive sedimentation is a major challenge resulting in underperformance of numerous irrigation schemes in SSA, and the stakeholders’ lack of awareness of the sources of sedimentation is an underlying factor aggravating sedimentation problems. It is concluded that investigating the sources, extent, and types of sedimentation entering a small-scale irrigation scheme is the basis for reducing maintenance costs and for effective management of sedimentation problems.     

Effect of cover management factor in quantification of soil loss: case study of Sungai Akah subwatershed,Baram River basin Sarawak,Malaysia

The present study evaluates the effectiveness and suitability of cover management factors (C factor) generated through different techniques like land use/land cover-based arbitrary value (C_LULC), Normalised Different Vegetation Index-based methods C_NDVI1 and C_NDVI2 and Modified Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index 2-based method (C_MSAVI2). The C factors generated using these four methods were tested in the calculation and assessment of annual average soil loss from an upland forested subwatershed in the Baram river basin using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The four cover management factor maps generated by this analysis show some variation among the results. The LULC method uses a single arbitrary value for each LULC type mapped in the subwatershed. The other three methods show a range of C values within each mapped LULC type. The effects of these variations were tested in the RUSLE by keeping the factors such as rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), slope-length and steepness (LS) constant. The maximum annual average soil loss is 1191 t. ha^?1. y^?1 based on the C_LULC. Soil losses estimated with other three methods are very different compared to those estimated with the C_LULC method. The highest calculated soil loss values were 1832, 1674 and 1608 t. ha^?1. y^?1 in the study area based, respectively, on C_NDVI1, C_NDVI2 and C_MSAVI2 C factors. These maximum values represent the worst pixel scenario values of soil loss in the region. The statistical analysis performed indicates different relationship between the parameters and suggests the acceptance of the methodology based on C_NDVI2 for the study area, instead of a single value method such as C_LULC. Among the other two methods, the C_MSAVI2 was found to be more consistent than the C_NDVI1 method, but both methods lead to over-prediction of annual soil loss rate and therefore need to be reconsidered before applied in the RUSLE.     

Characteristics of sea-cliff erosion induced by a strong winter storm in the eastern Mediterranean

Changes in sea-cliff morphologies along the 30-km-long Sharon Escarpment segment of Israel's weakly cemented Mediterranean eolianite cliff line were analyzed to gain quantitative insights into erosion characteristics associated with a high-energy winter storm (10–20 year return interval). Ground-based repeat LiDAR measurements at five sites along the cliff line captured perturbations of cliff stability by basal wave scouring during the storm, subsequent post-storm gravity-driven slope failures in the cliff face above, and return of the system to transient stability within several months. Post-storm erosion, which amounted to 70% of the total volume of cliff erosion documented, resulted in dramatic local effects of up to 8 m of cliff-top retreat. And yet, at the larger scale of the 30-km cliff line examined, erosion during the storm and the year that followed affected less than 4% of the cliff length and does not appear to be above the average cliff-length annual erosion implied by previously published decadal-scale retreat rates along this sea cliff. Our results do not support a direct association between strong storm events and elevated erosion and retreat at the cliff-line scale.     

密云沙厂小流域土壤侵蚀GIS和RS评价方法研究

从GIS和RS研究的角度对沙厂小流域实测的土壤侵蚀数据进行分析,建立基于3S的土壤侵蚀综合评价指标模型,快速地计算出土壤侵蚀量,并对其侵蚀的动态过程进行监测,为沙厂小流域综合治理的快速决策提供科学的平台和依据.     

Reduction of bend scour with an air-bubble screen-morphology and flow patterns

The interplay between streamwise flow,curvature-induced secondary flow,sediment transport and bed morphology leads to the formation of a typical bar-pool bed morphology in open-channel bends.The associated scour at the outer bank and deposition at the inner bank may endanger the outer bank’s stability or reduce the navigable width of the channel.Previous preliminary laboratory experiments in a sharply curved flume with a fixed horizontal bed have shown that a bubble screen located near the outer bank can generate an additional secondary flow located between the outer bank and the curvature-induced secondary flow and with a sense of rotation opposite to the latter.This bubble-induced secondary flow redistributes velocities and bed shear stresses.The reported study investigates the implications of a bubble screen on the flow and the morphology in configurations with mobile bed.Velocity measurements show that the bubble-induced secondary flow shifts the curvature-induced secondary flow in inwards direction and reduces its strength.The bubble screen considerably reduces morphological gradients.Maximum bend scour is reduced by about 50%and occurs further away from the outer bank where it does not endanger the bank stability anymore.The location of maximum scour coincides with the junction of the curvature-induced and bubble-induced secondary flows.At this same location,the maximum streamwise velocities and maximum vertical velocities impinging on the bed also occur,which indicates their importance with respect to the formation of bend scour.The bubble screen also substantially reduced deposition at the inner bank.These preliminary experiments show the potential of a bubble screen to influence and modify the bed morphology.     

The opening of the Plio-Quaternary Gibraltar Strait: assessing the size of a cataclysm

Abstract

The widespread Lago-Mare facies show that the Mediterranean was fully isolated from the World Ocean at the end of the Messinian salinity crisis (MSC): the Plio-Quaternary Gibraltar Strait has no geographical feature in common with the Miocene Portals, which were continentalised before the end of the MSC. A copy of a budget model has been modified to study the infilling of the Mediterranean. The yearly Atlantic water supply follows an exponential increase law. The level of the basins does not change significantly during the 26 early years, but the refill of the Mediterranean basins is completed within the next 10–11 years. The high velocity of the flow of Atlantic water can be reconfirmed by hydraulic calculations. The morphological study of the area suggests that the Gibraltar Strait originates from an eastwards flowing stream, which drained the eastern slope of an emergent Gibraltar Isthmus to the Mediterranean Basins at the end of the Messinian. Similar canyons are still found in the marine topography towards the Alboran Sea. The present Spartel and Camarinal Sills both originate from the coeval mass sliding of the northern bank of the strait. The strait of Gibraltar results from the work of a stream, which managed water-piracy from an Ocean. © 2002 Éditions scientifiques et médicales Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.