Estimation of initiation thresholds and soil loss from gully erosion on unpaved roads on China's Loess Plateau

Gullies form easily on unpaved road surfaces during heavy rainstorms on China's Loess Plateau. The integrated effect of rainfall, topography, vegetation, land use, and other factors determines where and when gully erosion occurs; however, the mechanisms driving gully erosion on unpaved road surfaces need to be further understood. Repeated gully erosion on some roads during the storm season provides a good opportunity to better understand the mechanisms behind gully erosion. This article aimed to quantify the integrated threshold conditions required for gully initiation in terms of topography, event rainfall, and upslope land use, and to propose an event-based model to predict the position and magnitude of road gully erosion. Rill and gully erosion on unpaved roads were investigated after an extreme rainstorm of 212.2 mm in 2017 and a regular rainstorm of 83.8 mm in 2018. A digital surface model (DSM) derived from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images was used to analyze the road gradient (S) and upslope area (A). The runoff (Q_RS) of each road segment (RS) was estimated by the runoff curve number method. The results showed the following: (1) The mean and total gully volumes under the regular rainstorm were only 26.3% and 8.1% of those under the extreme rainstorm, respectively; (2) Gully formation on the surveyed roads under both the regular and the extreme rainstorm could be explained by the threshold relationship (S − 0.056)Q_RS^3.363 ≥ 72.444; and (3) A non-linear relationship between gully erosion in road segments and event runoff (Q_RS) and road gradient (S) was found, and was subsequently used to predict road gully erosion on an event basis.     

甘肃永靖黑方台地区灌溉诱发型滑坡发育特征 及力学机制

水是诱发黄土滑坡最为积极的因素,以灌溉诱发型滑坡尤为典型.基于野外水工环地质综合调查,对黑方台地区灌溉渗透诱发滑坡的发育特征进行总结.通过分析特定孕灾地质条件下滑坡发育特征的差异,认为黄土滑坡形成的力学机制以滑移-压致拉裂-剪断型和蠕滑-拉裂-滑移型为主,而黄土-基岩滑坡以滑移-压致-拉裂型为主.滑移-压致拉裂-剪断型黄土滑坡为原位溯源后退扩展式,系灌溉水入渗后造成黄土饱和带厚度增大,不仅造成台缘周边地下水溢出带部位渗透压力增大,且抗剪强度显著弱化,从而在坡体自重作用下发生蠕滑剪切.锁固段突然破坏使滑坡快速启动,滑体冲击致早期饱水滑床产生液化,产生高位抛射,借助原始地形滑体加速运移形成高速远程运动.蠕滑-拉裂-滑移型黄土滑坡是黄土底部饱和带厚度较薄或灌溉入渗影响较小的地段,以后缘拉裂为主激发形成.渗灌溉水长期入渗造成下伏基岩顺倾泥岩层面软化泥化,从而在顺向坡段产生黄土-基岩顺层滑坡,该类滑坡以低速短程滑坡为主.     

Recalibrating aeolian sand transport models

A quality‐controlled data set comprising measurements of aeolian sand transport rates obtained at three disparate field sites is used to evaluate six commonly employed transport rate models (those of Bagnold, Kawamura, Zingg, Owen, Hsu, and Lettau and Lettau) and to recalibrate the empirical constants in those models. Shear velocity estimates were obtained using the von Kármán constant and an apparent von Kármán parameter. Models were recalibrated using non‐linear regression and non‐linear regression with least‐squares lines forced through axes origins. Recalibration using the apparent von Kármán parameter and forced regression reduced the empirical constants for all models. The disparity between the predictions from the different models is reduced from about an order of magnitude to about a quarter of an order of magnitude. The recalibrated Lettau and Lettau model provided the greatest statistical agreement between observed and predicted transport rates, with a coefficient of determination of 0·77. Evaluation of the results suggests that our estimations of threshold shear velocity may be too slow, causing errors in predicted transport rates. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

FACTORS INFLUENCING THE VARIABILITY OF MIDWINTER SNOW-DEPTH DECREASE IN THE NORTHERN GREAT PLAINS OF THE UNITED STATES

Meltwater from snow provides an important source of fresh water for agriculture, domestic use, and hydroelectric power in many regions of the world. In the winter and early spring, however, rapid ablation of the snowpack can lead to environmental hazards such as flooding.

Most snowmelt research has relied on measured data, which have limited the spatial and temporal resolution of the studies. Generally, these studies have been conducted at single locations over periods of a few days to a few weeks. This project investigates snowdepth changes on a more expansive scale by using a one-dimensional mass- and energy-balance model (SNTHERM) to compute the convective and radiative fluxes associated with large snow-depth change events. Midwinter snow-depth changes and the variability in snow-depth changes are evaluated for a 25-year time period over the northern Great Plains region of the United States during February.

Statistical analyses indicate that variations in sensible heat flux have the greatest influence on midwinter variability of snow-depth changes. This is shown by the consistently strong relationship between modeled sensible heat-flux values and changes in snow depth over the entire study period and at nearly every station. Mean daily temperature followed by mean daily dew-point temperature show the next strongest statistical relationships with snow-cover ablation. Radiative fluxes and net solar radiation in particular, have low correlations with changes in snow depth and are therefore found to have little impact on snow-depth change variability during the month of February. Although net solar radiation is not highly correlated with the variability of decreases in depth, its energy input is nevertheless an important source of energy for ablation processes. [Key words: snow melt, modeling, Great Plains.]     

Trends in Year-To-Year Fluctuations in Surface Air Temperature,Canadian Arctic

The northwest portion of the Tekonsha Moraine has traditionally been considered to be a product of, and composed of sediments from, the Lake Michigan Lobe. A recent study has also correlated till from the moraine with an exposure (Ganges till) along the shore of Lake Michigan. The results of this paper contradict those interpretations. Multiple lines of evidence—till fabrics, 7-Å/10-Å peak height ratios of clay minerals, indicator stones, morphology, and elevation relationships—indicate a Saginaw Lobe origin for the till and glaciofluvial sediments. Moreover, aerial photographs reveal the presence of ice-stagnation topography. The moraine is herein reinterpreted as a hummocky and pitted (collapsed) outwash plain/kame moraine. Given that this feature has long been considered a moraine, similar landforms in Michigan and elsewhere may be more common than heretofore recognized. [Key words: glacial geomorphology, Michigan, Quaternary, Tekonsha Moraine.]     

EFFECT OF DAMS ON MOUNTAINOUS BEDROCK RIVERS

This study examines the adjustment of river systems in the Golan Heights to reservoir construction in small basaltic mountainous catchments where total water flow is impounded, and discusses comparisons with the effects of large dams on alluvial rivers. Annual rainfall ranges from 500 mm to 900 mm, and no major springs are found in the area. About 3/4 of total runoff is in the form of floods caused by rainstorms. The 11 dams receive drainage from about 20% of the total catchment, and a third of the total runoff. Changes in the river channels were studied at 28 field stations. Flood marks provided peak stage levels for largest season discharge, and 8 nearby hydrometric stations provided a continuous hydrological record. Bed material was sampled at each cross-section site. The main effect of river impoundment is a sharp decrease in flood peaks below the reservoirs to about one-third of their previous natural regime. The channel cross-sectional area decreased, but no temporal adjustment can be established, as most of the reservoirs were built in the last 5–8 years. Channel-flow hydraulics are competent enough to transport the suspended material, but evidence of aggradation was found in the channel reaches close to the dams. Bedload transport and the size of transported cobbles and boulders decreased downstream from the dams. Increased vegetation cover downstream from the dams was the most pronounced effect. Adjustment of the fluvial system to dam building in mountainous streams seems to be less sensitive than in alluvial channels. [Key words: fluvial geomorphology, dams, water reservoirs, environmental changes, Israel.]     

Migration of channel heads following wildfire in the Colorado Front Range,USA

The High Park Fire burned ~35 300 ha of the Colorado Front Range during June and July 2012. In the areas of most severe burn, all trees were killed and the litter and duff layers of soil were completely removed. Post‐fire erosion caused channel heads to develop well upslope from pre‐fire locations. The locations of 50 channel heads in two burned catchments were documented and the range of drainage areas contributing to these channel heads to drainage areas of unburned channel heads in the region measured previously were compared. Mean drainage area above channel heads in the burned zone decreased by more than two‐orders of magnitude relative to unburned sites. Drainage area above channel heads between the two burned catchments does not differ significantly with respect to slope, likely as a result of differences in surface roughness between the two sites following the fire. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

黄土高原沟壑区原状土壤氮素迁移

以中国生态系统研究网络CERN长武王东沟实验站的坡耕地和塬耕地为供试土壤,研究了黄土高原沟壑塬区旱耕地原状土壤氮素迁移和时空变异。结果表明:耕作土壤NO3--N为23.1~33.8 mg/kg,NH4+-N为0.23~0.50mg/kg,DOC为9.17~13.38 mg/kg,P为0.18~0.23 mg/kg;坡耕地和塬耕地的NO3--N和NH4+-N主要集中在0~20 cm的上层土壤,中下层土壤NO3--N和NH4+-N起源于上层淋溶迁移和累积;高含量时养分淋溶溶出呈指数衰减型;NO3--N、NH4+-N、DOC向下层的迁移塬耕地慢于坡耕地。     

火星表面沙丘中冲沟的成因及对撞击坑壁冲沟成因的启发

借助于15幅高分辨率的HiRISE影像与107幅MOC影像,对火星表面撞击坑壁与沙丘中出现的非常年轻冲沟形态特征进行了详细研究,并据此检验冲沟成因假说.影像特征分析结果首先支持沙丘中冲沟是由液态水携带泥沙冲刷而成的理论,而撞击坑壁出现的多边形土证实火星表面下冰的存在,且在适当的条件下可转变为液态水形成冲沟.      

Episodic bedrock erosion by gully‐head migration,Colorado High Plains,USA

This study explores the frequency of bedrock exposure in a soil‐mantled low‐relief (i.e. non‐mountainous) landscape. In the High Plains of eastern Colorado, gully headcuts are among the few erosional features that will incise through the soil mantle to expose bedrock. We measured the last time of bedrock exposure using optically stimulated luminescence dating of alluvial sediment overlying bedrock in gully headcuts. Our dating suggests that headcuts in adjacent gullies expose bedrock asynchronously, and therefore, the headcuts are unlikely to have been triggered by a base‐level drop in the trunk stream. This finding supports the hypothesis that headcuts can develop locally in gullies as a result of focused scour in locations where hydraulic stress during a flash flood is sufficiently high, and/or ground cover is sufficiently weak, to generate a scour hole that undermines vegetation. Alluvium dating also reveals that gullies have been a persistent part of this landscape since the early Holocene. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.