SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION AND MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES OF GULLIES IN AN AGROPASTORAL AREA IN SARDINIA, ITALY

1 INTRODUCTION Many studies on soil erosion by water have been carried out in the Mediterranean area, since erosion is considered as one of the most important land degradation processes in these environments (UNEP, 1994). Those studies mainly focused on r…     

INITIATION AND DEVELOPMENT PROCESSES OF TUNNEL SYSTEMS IN THE HILLY LOESS REGION OF NORTHERN CHINA

1 INTRODUCTION Tunnel erosion or piping is very common in semi-arid areas. It is often associated with gully system development (e.g., Parker, 1965; Heede, 1971; Harvey, 1982; Crouch, 1983; Gutierrez et al., 1997). It may also become a severe soil conserv…     

Magnitude–frequency relations in debris flow

Debris flow occurs frequently in mountainous regions in China. Because of the difficulties involved in predicting and catching live debris flows, an assessment of the potential for debris flow is crucial in hazard mitigation. Magnitude–frequency (MF) relations are of special significance in such assessments. In previous studies, MF relations have been inferred by analyzing environmental factors and historical records and using empirical relations. This paper is concerned with the derivation of MF relations at regional and valley scales, using a large database of statistics. At the regional scale, it is represented by the distribution of the valley area, because the area is often taken to indicate the potential magnitude of debris flow. Statistics from over 5,000 debris flow valleys in various provinces in China show that a power law holds for the distribution, i.e., p(A) ∼ A ⁻ⁿ , where p(A) is the percentage of valleys with area A and n varies with region and thus describes regional differences. At the valley scale, a case study focusing on Jiangjia Gully (JJG) was conducted, and the MF relations derived from it were expressed by the distributions of discharge and runoff (i.e., the total volume) of living debris flows observed over the last 40 years. The distributions can be expressed as exponential functions where the exponents vary with the events. These MF relations provide not only a potential quantitative reference for practical purposes but also hint at the intrinsic properties of the debris flow.     

Predicting gully densities at sub-continental scales: a case study for the Horn of Africa

Despite its environmental and scientific significance, predicting gully erosion remains problematic. This is especially so in strongly contrasting and degraded regions such as the Horn of Africa. Machine learning algorithms such as random forests (RF) offer great potential to deal with the complex, often non-linear, nature of factors controlling gully erosion. Nonetheless, their applicability at regional to continental scales remains largely untested. Moreover, such algorithms require large amounts of observations for model training and testing. Collecting such data remains an important bottleneck. Here we help to address these gaps by developing and testing a methodology to simulate gully densities across Ethiopia, Eritrea and Djibouti (total area: 1.2 million km²). We propose a methodology to quickly assess the gully head density (GHD) for representative 1 km² study sites by visually scoring the presence of gullies in Google Earth and then converting these scores to realistic estimates of GHD. Based on this approach, we compiled GHD observations for 1,700 sites. We used these data to train sets of RF regression models that simulate GHD at a 1 km² resolution, based on topographic/geomorphic, land cover, soil and rainfall conditions. Our approach also accounts for uncertainties in GHD observations. Independent validations showed generally acceptable simulations of regional GHD patterns. We further show that: (i) model performance strongly depends on the amount of training data used, (ii) large prediction errors mainly occur in areas where also the predicted uncertainty is large and (iii) collecting additional training data for these areas results in more drastic model performance improvements. Analyses of the feature importance of predictor variables further showed that patterns of GHD across the Horn of Africa strongly depend on NDVI and annual rainfall, but also on normalized steepness index (k_sn) and distance to rivers. Overall, our work opens promising perspectives to assess gully densities at continental scales. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

甘肃省武都县马槽沟泥石流特征

马槽沟是一条典型的灾害性泥石流沟。沟内不良地质现象发育。降水是该泥石发生的条件,十分钟雨强是暴发泥石流的关键。列出了泥石流特征值,这为泥石流防治提供了有实用价值的参数。     

A SIMPLE DEVICE TO MONITOR SEDIMENT YIELD FROM GULLY EROSION

1INTRODUCTION Gully erosion has been investigated by many researchers throughout the world.Their studies have focused on how the process evolves and on a better understanding of the sub-processes that take place in gully erosion(Small and Clark,1982;Morgan,1986;Hasset and Banwart,1992;Boardman and Favis-Mortlock,1993;Selby,1993;Goudie and Viles,1997;Guerra and Favis-Mortlock,1998;Favis-Mortlock and Guerra,1999,2000;Figueiredo,2003;Garcia and Guerra,2003).Soil properties,rainfall re…     

从空间Poisson过程看蒋家沟泥石流

云南东川蒋家沟泥石流频率高,变化多.每场泥石流包含几十到几百个阵流,各阵流具有不同的密度、流体性质和运动形态,流量涨落达3个数量级.这些特征意味着泥石流具有很强的随机性.根据蒋家沟的演化分区和野外观测,可以发现泥石流形成于特殊的源地分支.土体活动(包括滑坡、崩塌和局部的土体流动等)随机发生在那些分支流域,如果认为各源地的土体活动是独立的,而且活动强度正比于源地的面积,那么泥石流的形成和汇流就是一个空间Poisson过程.其结果是阵流流量服从指数分布,这很好地符合蒋家沟的泥石泥观测数据.从蒋家沟泥石流的随机性可见,泥石流依赖于流域的特定源区及其分布,而不是笼统地取决于全流域的地貌或几何因子.     

Medium-term evolution of a gully developed in a loess-derived soil

Field surveys in the Belgian loess belt revealed the presence in many forested areas of large, permanent gully systems, most of which are currently inactive. In cultivated areas, such gullies can only be observed in cross-sectional soil profiles through hollows, as virtually all such large gullies are currently infilled with colluvium. Little is known about the spatial distribution, initiation and temporal evolution of these large, permanent gully systems on loess-derived soils. Therefore, the medium-term evolution of a gully initiated in a cultivated area on loess-derived soils southwest of Leuven (Belgium) in May–June 1986, was studied over 13 years. Two intense rainfall events created this (ephemeral) gully, which was not erased by subsequent tillage. Between June 1986 and the December 1999, eight field surveys were conducted to measure gully dimensions. During two surveys, topographic indices (e.g., slope and drainage area) were also measured. Daily rainfall for the measuring period were obtained from a rainfall station located some 10 km southwest of the gully. Analysis of rainfall data showed that no extreme rainfall event was required to initiate such large (permanent) gullies, as observed in forested areas and through cross-sectional profiles in cultivated fields in the Belgian loess belt. Return periods of the event that caused the gully varied between <1 year and 25 years, depending on the assumptions used for defining event rain intensity. Once established, length, surface area and volume of the studied gully evolved with time, cumulative rainfall or cumulative runoff, following a negative exponential relation. This accords with observations reported for gullies in Australia and the USA. This study shows that a degressive increase of gully extension, can be largely explained by the evolution of a “slope–drainage area” factor (S×A, which is proportional to stream power) with time. While gully length and gully surface area asymptotically evolve towards a final value, gully volume decreased at a given point in time. From this, it is inferred that sediment deposition will potentially infill the gully to such an extent that the farmer can drive across it. From this moment on, the combined effect of water and tillage erosion in the gully drainage area, will lead towards rapid infilling. This expected evolution of a gully in cultivated fields accords with observations of large infilled gully systems in cultivated areas in eastern Belgium. The permanent gullies observed under forest are attributed to the fact that after severe gully erosion, this area was reforested or abandoned. Therefore, the sediment source was cut off and the gully was not filled in by sediment deposition.     

5.12震源区牛眠沟暴雨滑坡泥石流预测模型

牛眠沟研究区位于2008-05-12汶川大地震线性震源的南端,受强烈地震力作用,区内山体遭受严重破坏,发生多处滑坡和泥石流灾害。根据已建立的暴雨滑坡、泥石流预测概念模型,暴雨滑坡、泥石流预测可视为判断滑坡形成的地质环境和确定触发滑坡的降雨特征。查明研究区地质环境及灾害特征,确定了产生滑坡、泥石流的必要地质环境因子,以数字滑坡技术获取这些因子数据,代入模型,即可评价研究区各处、各沟谷发生滑坡、泥石流的危险程度;与相似地质环境及气候条件进行类比,确定研究区触发滑坡、泥石流的降雨特征及降雨量阈值后,最终建立暴雨滑坡、泥石流预测模型。据此模型进行研究区暴雨滑坡、泥石流预测,实地验证表明滑坡、泥石流发生位置的准确率>90%。     

Holocene valley aggradation and gully erosion in headwater catchments,south-eastern highlands of Australia

Late Quaternary stratigraphy of a 50 km² catchment on the south-eastern highlands of Australia reveals processes and history of denudation, and helps resolve a long-standing debate about factors controlling episodic valley aggradation and degradation during Holocene times. Valley sedimentation occurred when swampy vegetation fully colonized valley floors and obliterated all channels, promoting aggradation for periods of several thousand years, with most incoming sediment being trapped in swampy meadows. Much of the sediment was reworked from late Pleistocene alluvial fan and valley fill deposits, and primary hillslope erosion was minor during the Holocene. Differing sedimentation patterns between the Late Pleistocene, Holocene and Post-European settlement periods reflect regional changes in sediment supply and transport capacity as a result of major environmental change. Within the Holocene, however, valley fill stratigraphy is controlled by massive, episodic gully erosion terminating aggradation. Gully initiation appears to be controlled more by thresholds of incision into vegetated valley floors than by changes to sediment supply. Whether the thresholds are exceeded because of climatic change, autonomous change or extreme events cannot yet be determined. Overall, the Holocene history represents continuing complex response to events of the Late Pleistocene, and does not support the K-cycle concept, which has strongly influenced late Quaternary geomorphology in Australia.