The geomorphic legacy of water and erosion control structures in a semiarid rangeland watershed

Control over water supply and distribution is critical for agriculture in drylands where manipulating surface runoff often serves the dual purpose of erosion control. However, little is known of the geomorphic impacts and legacy effects of rangeland water manipulation infrastructure, especially if not maintained. This study investigated the geomorphic impacts of structures such as earthen berms, water control gates, and stock tanks, in a semiarid rangeland in the southwestern USA that is responding to both regional channel incision that was initiated over a century ago, and a more recent land use change that involved cattle removal and abandonment of structures. The functional condition of remnant structures was inventoried, mapped, and assessed using aerial imagery and lidar data. Headcut initiation, scour, and channel incision associated with compromised lateral channel berms, concrete water control structures, floodplain water spreader berms, and stock tanks were identified as threats to floodplains and associated habitat. Almost half of 27 identified lateral channel berms (48%) have been breached and 15% have experienced lateral scour; 18% of 218 shorter water spreader berms have been breached and 17% have experienced lateral scour. A relatively small number of 117 stock tanks (6%) are identified as structurally compromised based on analysis of aerial imagery, although many currently do not provide consistent water supplies. In some cases, the onset of localized disturbance is recent enough that opportunities for mitigation can be identified to alter the potentially damaging erosion trajectories that are ultimately driven by regional geomorphic instability. Understanding the effects of prior land use and remnant structures on channel and floodplain morphologic condition is critical because both current land management and future land use options are constrained by inherited land use legacy effects. Published 2017. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA     

怀安镇盆地南缘断裂构造地貌特征

基于遥感影像和1∶20万地质图成果资料,对怀安镇盆地南缘断裂沿线断层三角面、断层陡坎、冲沟裂点、断层冲沟等构造地貌以及典型断错剖面进行了野外调查。调查表明:断裂沿线分布大量典型的构造地貌现象,不同部位因断裂活动性的差异,其构造地貌特征各异;在一些地段冲沟壁中见断层断错剖面,断面是错断扇体的较新断裂。     

Mechanisms of lateral and linear extension of gullies (dongas) in a subhumid grassland of South Africa

The formation of deep gullies (called ‘dongas’ locally) in rangeland in KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa is a natural phenomenon. These U-shaped, very wide gullies have considerable lateral expansion due to the episodic collapse of sidewalls. The dongas have developed in duplex soils such as Luvisols and Lixisols formed on Permian sedimentary rocks or unconsolidated Quaternary colluvium. This study combined morphological, mineralogical and chemical characterization with measurements of grain-size content, structural stability and the complete shrinkage curve to detect changes in soil properties of the different horizons located in the gully banks. The different soil horizons present clear and sharp differences in physical and mineralogical properties. The topsoil with complete grass cover is very resistant to soil detachment. However, the leached E horizon and the BC horizon have low structural stability. The soil profile down to and including the Bt horizon contains exclusively illite in the clay fraction, while the BC colluvial layer and the C horizon (mudstone) contain expandable interstratified illite–smectite. The Bt horizon has a high water content at saturation and high shrinkage, while the BC and C horizons have a high residual shrinkage and a very low water content at saturation. Because this type of gully expansion is not significantly linked to slope value or the stream power index (SPI) at the gully head, to land-use change, high rainfall intensities or the threshold of concentrated runoff being exceeded at the gully head, other causes were investigated. It was concluded that the heterogeneity between horizons with different mineralogical properties and structural stabilities, soil types and parent material, anisotropic water-saturation and shrink-swell properties are of major importance. This heterogeneity between different soil horizon morphologies and their physical properties can explain why the relationship between the critical slope and the drainage area for gully initiation showed a threshold for gullying much lower than that found elsewhere. © 2020 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Assessment of soil losses by ephemeral gully erosion using high-altitude (stereo) aerial photographs

The objective of this study is to explore in a critical way the potential of high-altitude (stereo) aerial photographs for the assessment of ephemeral gully erosion rates. On 28 May 1995, an intensive rainfall event (30 mm h⁻¹ during 30 min, return period = 3 years) occurred in central Belgium. Ephemeral gullies formed within an area of 218 ha (study area 1) were mapped and measured both in the field and by high-altitude aerial photos taken at the same time. Comparison of these two methods shows that if only one of the two surveying techniques had been used, only 75 per cent of the total ephemeral gully length would have been detected, so that the combination of aerial and field data leads, in fact, to the best possible determination of total gully length within the selected area. A correction factor (C) is proposed, so that the results of an ephemeral gully erosion survey based on high-altitude (stereo) aerial photos can be adjusted for the undetected gullies. Next, a sequential series of high-altitude stereo aerial photographs, taken in six different years, was analysed in order to determine ephemeral gully erosion rates in three selected study areas (study areas 2, 3 and 4). Selection criteria were chosen so that these three areas were similar to study area 1 and representative for the cultivated areas in central Belgium where intense soil erosion regularly occurs. Ephemeral gullies were mapped and their total length was measured from the aerial photos. Using a mean gully cross-section of 0·2635 m² (determined in study area 1), the average eroded volume is 1·89 m³ ha⁻¹ in six months for study area 1, 0·86 m³ ha⁻¹ in six months for area 2, 1·44 m³ ha⁻¹ in six months for area 3, and 2·37 m³ ha⁻¹ in six months for area 4. According to the correction factor (C), these mean ephemeral gully erosion volumes have to be increased by 44 per cent. The ephemeral gully erosion rates based on high-altitude stereo aerial photos, correspond well with the results of other surveys carried out in the Belgian loess belt. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Paraglacial modification of slope form

The morphological consequences of paraglacial modification of valley-side drift slopes are investigated at six sites in Norway. Here, paraglacial slope adjustment operates primarily through the development of gully systems, whereby glacigenic sediment is stripped from the upper drift slope and redeposited in debris cones downslope. This results in an overall lowering of average gradient by up to 4·5° along gully axes. In general, slope profile adjustment appears to be characterized by a convergence of slope profiles towards an ‘equilibrium form’ with an upper rectilinear slope gradient at 29°± 4° and a range of concavities of approximately 0·0 to 0·4. After initial rapid incision, further gully deepening is limited, but gullies become progressively wider as sidewall gradients decline to c. 25°, after which parallel retreat appears to predominate. The final form of mature paraglacial gully systems consists of an upper bedrock-floored source area, a mid-slope area of broad gullies whose sidewalls rest at stable, moderate gradients, and a lower slope zone where gullies discharge onto the surfaces of debris cones and fans. Some gullies appear to have attained this final form and have stabilized following exhaustion of readily entrainable sediment within decades of gully initiation. At most sites, paraglacial activity has transformed steep drift-mantled valley sides into gullied slopes where an average of c. 2–3 m of surface lowering has taken place. At the most active sites, these average amounts imply minimum erosion rates averaging c. 90 mm a⁻¹ since gully initiation, which highlights the extreme rapidity of paraglacial erosion of deglaciated drift-mantled slopes. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

基于DIC技术的3D打印节理试件破裂机制研究

为了准确表征不同角度预制节理岩石在单轴压缩下的变形破坏模式,基于3D打印技术制作了节理模型用于模拟岩体中的结构面,通过水泥砂浆的浇筑得到含不同角度预制节理的岩石试件并进行单轴压缩试验,同时采用数字图像相关技术（DIC）观测、分析试验过程中试件裂纹产生、扩展以及贯通过程。结果表明：随着预制节理从0°增加到90°,试件强度与峰值应变均呈现先降低后升高的变化趋势,0°和45°试件弹性模量相对于完整试件有所降低。基于DIC检测结果,0°、30°、45°及60°试件裂纹皆从预制节理尖端部位起裂,各角度试件的起裂应力与试件强度变化规律一致。各角度试样起裂时在剪应力控制下以剪切翼型裂纹形式起裂,0°与45°试件裂纹在扩展过程由剪切发展为张拉型裂纹,30°和60°试件以剪切裂纹形式贯穿始终,90°试件从底部起裂并最终表现为张拉破坏。研究还发现,下翼起裂角θ2和上翼起裂角θ1之间存在明显的线性正相关关系,关系式为θ2 =0.828 6θ1 +12.185,且起裂应力大小变化与峰值应力变化一致,皆随节理角度的增加先减小后增大。     

矿渣型泥石流发育特征及危险性评价

大西岔沟地质环境复杂,节理、裂隙发育,在各支沟及主沟中,填埋了36万多方以碎石土为主的高、陡矿渣堆.这些矿渣以台阶状层叠堆放的形式填满整个沟谷,严重堵塞水路,并且矿渣堆的稳定性较差,透水性较好,再加上暴雨雨量大,汇流集中,大西岔沟已具备了泥石流灾害爆发的条件.结合洪峰流量对大西岔沟泥石流的启动条件进行分析,极容易发生泥石流.对于像大西岔沟的这种矿渣型泥石流,其主要形成水石流,具有固体物源补给方量大、产流区集中、容易启动、流通距离短和破坏性大的发育特征,其固体物质补给主要以冲、洪沟的侧蚀、揭底补给、渣堆失稳和坡面漫流冲刷补给为主.在此基础上,提出了以排导和固渣相结合的治理方案,即在沟谷中修建大量的排水沟,能第一时间排走洪水,同时对渣堆进行放坡处理,以增加渣堆的自稳能力.     

论小流域内泥石流物源的判别—以康定县子耳沟为例

小流域内松散碎屑物质的稳定性及储量可以作为泥石流沟判别的依据。本文以康定县子耳沟为例,通过对滑塌面积率、不良地质体长度比、流域内暴发泥石流的碎屑物量最低标准三个指数的计算,判定子耳沟流域内松散碎屑物质物源丰富且不稳定,泥石流暴发可能性大。这种方法的应用,可以指导泥石流的预报预警和防灾减灾工作,判别山区小流域暴发泥石流的易发程度及规模。     

Modeling soil desiccation cracking by analytical and numerical approaches

An energy approach is proposed as a complement to the stress approach commonly considered for investigating soil desiccation cracking. The elastic strain energies before and after crack initiation are estimated by both numerical and analytical solutions. The energy released by cracking is then compared with the fracture energy to discuss crack initiation conditions. This leads to combined energy and stress conditions for crack initiation following Leguillon's theory. An approximate analytical solution is derived from a variational formulation of the porous elastic body equations. A cohesive zone model and finite element code are used to simulate crack propagation in an unsaturated porous body. This analysis shows that the energy criterion is reached before the stress criterion, and this can explain unstable crack propagation at the beginning. The approximate analytical solution allows predicting correctly the crack depth and opening in its initiation stage.     

Simulation of event-based landslides and debris flows at watershed level

A coupled model has been developed to simulate, at watershed level, landslides and debris flows induced by a severe typhoon (tropical cyclone) in Taiwan. The model comprises a landslide susceptibility model to predict landslide occurrence, an empirical model to select debris-flow initiation points, and a debris flow model to simulate the transport and deposit of failed materials from the identified source areas. In raster format with a 10 m spatial resolution, the model output includes unstable cells, debris-flow initiation cells, debris-flow velocities, runout paths, and deposition zones. The model was first tested and calibrated in a small area, where the damage by landslides had been investigated and recorded. It was then applied to a watershed, and the simulation results were validated by comparing them with a landslide/debris-flow inventory map prepared from satellite images using a multiple change detection technique. Model test and validation results confirm the usefulness of the model in predicting the number and size of affected areas (landslides and runouts combined), runout path, and volume of runout deposits. It is a common practice in Taiwan to separate landslide and debris-flow inventories and to study debris flows only in select drainage basins. This study suggests that landslide and debris flow should be modeled as a sequential process for efficient watershed management.