Gully cut‐and‐fill cycles as related to agro‐management: a historical curve number simulation in the Tigray Highlands

Gully cut‐and‐fill dynamics are often thought to be driven by climate and/or deforestation related to population pressure. However, in this case‐study of nine representative catchments in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands, we find that neither climate changes nor deforestation can explain gully morphology changes over the twentieth century. Firstly, by using a Monte Carlo simulation to estimate historical catchment‐wide curve numbers, we show that the landscape was already heavily degraded in the nineteenth and early twentieth century – a period with low population density. The mean catchment‐wide curve number (> 80) one century ago was, under the regional climatic conditions, already resulting in considerable simulated historical runoff responses. Secondly, twentieth century land‐cover and runoff coefficient changes were confronted with twentieth century changing gully morphologies. As the results show, large‐scale land‐cover changes and deforestation cannot explain the observed processes. The study therefore invokes interactions between authigenic factors, small‐scale plot boundary changes, cropland management and sociopolitical forces to explain the gully cut processes. Finally, semi‐structured interviews and sedistratigraphic analysis of three filled gullies confirm the dominant impact of (crop)land management (tillage, check dams in gullies and channel diversions) on gully cut‐and‐fill processes. Since agricultural land management – including land tenure and land distribution – has been commonly neglected in earlier related research, we argue therefore that it can be a very strong driver of twentieth century gully morphodynamics. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Hillslope and point based soil erosion – an evaluation of a Landscape Evolution Model

Excessive soil erosion and deposition is recognised as a significant land degradation issue. Quantifying soil erosion and deposition is a non-trivial task. One of these methods has been the mathematical modelling of soil erosion and deposition patterns and the processes that drive them. Here we examine the capability of a landscape evolution model to predict both soil erosion rate and pattern of erosion and deposition. This numerical model (SIBERIA) uses a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to represent the landscape and calculates erosion and deposition at each grid point in the DEM. To assess field soil redistribution rates (SRR) and patterns the distribution of the environmental tracer ¹³⁷Cs has been analysed. Net hill slope SRR predicted by SIBERIA (a soil loss rate of 1.7 to 4.3 t ha^-1 yr^-1) were found to be in good agreement with ¹³⁷Cs based estimates (2.1 – 3.4 t ha^-1 yr^-1) providing confidence in the predictive ability of the model at the hillslope scale. However some differences in predicted erosion/deposition patterns were noted due to historical changes in landscape form (i.e. the addition of a contour bank) and possible causes discussed, as is the finding that soil erosion rates are an order of magnitude higher than likely soil production rates. The finding that SIBERIA can approximate independently quantified erosion and deposition patterns and rates is encouraging, providing confidence in the employment of DEM based models to quantify hillslope erosion rates and demonstrating the potential to upscale for the prediction of whole catchment erosion and deposition. The findings of this study suggest that LEMs can be a reliable alternative to complex and time consuming methods such as that using environmental tracers for the determination of erosion rates. The model and approach demonstrates a new approach to assessing soil erosion that can be employed elsewhere. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The effects of slope shape and polyacrylamide application on runoff,erosion and nutrient loss from hillslopes under simulated rainfall

Natural hillslopes are mostly composed of complex slope shapes, which significantly affect soil erosion. However, existing studies have mainly focused on uniform slopes to simplify complex hillslopes, and the mechanisms responsible for the influence of slope shape on soil and nutrient losses are still not well understood, especially in the application of soil improvers to reduce soil loss. To investigate the effects of slope shape and polyacrylamide (PAM) application on runoff, soil erosion and nutrient loss, this study conducted artificial field rainfall experiments involving two PAM application rates and nine slope shapes. The results indicate that the average amount of soil loss from convex slopes was 1.5 and 1.3 times greater than that from concave and uniform slopes, respectively, and the average amount of ammonia nitrogen loss and phosphate loss increased by 24.0%–58.6%. Soil and nutrient losses increased as the convexity of the convex slopes increased. For runoff, there was little difference between concave and convex slopes, but the runoff amount for both slopes was greater than that for uniform slopes. After PAM application, the soil loss decreased by more than 90%, and the nutrient loss decreased by 28.2%–68.1%. The application of PAM was most effective in reducing soil erosion and nutrient loss from convex slopes, and it is recommended to appropriately increase the PAM application rate for convex slopes. A strong linear relationship between ammonia nitrogen and phosphate concentrations and sediment concentrations was found in the runoff on slopes with no PAM application. However, this linear relationship weakened for slopes with PAM application. The findings of this study may be valuable for optimizing nonpoint source pollution management in basins.     

Effects of the undecomposed layer and semi-decomposed layer of Quercus variabilis litter on the soil erosion process and the eroded sediment particle size distribution

Simulated rainfall experiments were performed on bare, undecomposed litter layer and semi-decomposed litter layer slopes with litter biomasses of 0, 50, 100 and 150 g m⁻², respectively, to evaluate the effect of the undecomposed layer and semi-decomposed layer of Quercus variabilis litter on the soil erosion process and the particle size distribution of eroded sediment. The undecomposed layer and semi-decomposed layer of litter reduced the runoff rate by 10.91–27.04% and 12.91–36.05%, respectively, and the erosion rate by 13.35–40.98% and 17.16–59.46%, respectively. The percentage of smaller particles (clay and fine silt particles) decreased and the percentage of larger particles (coarse silt and sand particles) increased with an increased rainfall duration on all treated slopes, while the extent of the eroded sediment particle content varied among the treated slopes with the rainfall duration, with bare slopes exhibiting the largest variability, followed by undecomposed litter layer slopes and finally semi-decomposed litter layer slopes. The clay and sand particles were transported as aggregates, and fine silt and coarse silt particles were transported as primary particles. Compared with the original soil, sediment eroded from all treated slopes was mainly enriched in smaller particles. Furthermore, the loss of the smaller particles from the undecomposed litter layer slopes was lower than that from the semi-decomposed litter layer slopes, indicating that the undecomposed litter layer alleviated soil coarsening to some extent. The findings from this study improve our understanding of how litter regulates slope erosion and provide a reference for effectively controlling soil erosion.     

The impact of flow discharge on the hydraulic characteristics of headcut erosion processes in the gully region of the Loess Plateau

Headcut erosion is associated with major hydraulic changes induced by the gully head of concentrated flow. However, the variation in the hydraulic characteristics of the headcut erosion process is still not clear in the gully region of the Loess Plateau. A series of rainfall combined scouring experiments (flow discharges ranging from 3.6 to 7.2 m³ hr⁻¹, with 0.8 mm min⁻¹ rainfall intensity) were conducted on experimental plots to clarify the variation in the hydraulic parameters induced by gully head and erosion processes under different flow discharges. The results showed that concentrated flows in the catchment area and gully bed were turbulent (Reynolds number ranging from 1,876 to 6,693) and transformed between supercritical and subcritical (Froude number ranging from 0.96 to 3.73). The hydraulic parameters, such as the flow velocity, Reynolds number, shear stress, stream power, Darcy–Weisbach friction factor, and unit stream power in the catchment area were 0.45–0.59 m s⁻¹, 2086–6693, 1.96–5.33 Pa, 0.89–2.86 W m⁻², 0.08–0.16, and 0.023–0.031 m s⁻¹, respectively. When the concentrated flows dropped from the gully head, the hydraulic parameters in the gully bed decreased by 3.39–26.07%, 1.49–29.99%, 65.19–67.14%, 67.25–74.96%, 28.53–61.31%, and 67.82–77.14%, respectively, which contributed to the flow energy consumption at the gully head. As flow discharge increased, Reynolds number, shear stress, and stream power increased, while flow velocity, Froude number, unit stream power, and Darcy–Weisbach friction factor did not. The flow energy consumption at the gully head was 9.66–10.13, 13.25–13.74, 15.68–16.41, and 19.28–20.25 J s⁻¹, respectively, under different flow discharges and accounted for 60.58–68.50% of the flow energy consumption of the experimental plots. Generally, the sediment discharges increased rapidly at the initial stage, then increased slowly, and finally reached a steady state condition, which showed a significant declining logarithmic trend with experimental duration (P<.01) and increased with increasing flow discharge. Accordingly, the flow energy consumption was significantly correlated with the sediment yield. These findings could improve our understanding of the hydraulic properties and flow energy characteristics of headcut erosion.     

便携式高精度游标螺旋测微装置室内模拟研究

直接测量岩石表面降低的高度是研究当前地表侵蚀速率的有效方法,目前认为地表岩石的侵蚀速率一般在百分之一毫米到微米数量级。然而以往的测量仪不能满足大范围野外岩石侵蚀速率测量的精度,本文介绍了一种新研发可直接进行岩石侵蚀速率测量的仪器---便携式高精度游标螺旋测微装置的组成和原理。与以往相比的改进是本次使用“磁铁”代替“棘轮”,旋拧螺旋测微杆,并利用改造后的装置进行了室内模拟试验。试验用装置A和装置B同时对无侵蚀和有侵蚀的两种情况进行对比测量,共获得120个测量数据。其中装置A中极差、平均偏差和标准偏差均小于0.001 mm的点,占所有点的83%,表明该设备在0.001 mm数量级精密度良好;装置B进行卫生丸“侵蚀”模拟实验,获得早期（前三天）微米级的平均“侵蚀”速率（0.0097 mm/天）,装置A的每日重复测量结果基本说明测量精度已经达到1 μm（0.001 mm）。改造后的装置精度更高且简单和易于携带,可在较低侵蚀速率地区大范围测量。     

浸矿开采对离子型稀土基岩力学特性的影响研究

为研究原地浸矿母液对离子型稀土矿收液底板的侵蚀影响,以离子型稀土矿基岩（半/弱风化花岗岩）为研究对象,开展了室内浸矿模拟试验。对比分析了不同浸矿时间岩样的应力−应变曲线、峰值应力、峰值应变和弹性模量,获取了不同浸矿历时岩样的孔隙度和细观形貌特征,并运用盒维法对岩样的非线性裂纹特征进行了定量化描述。结果表明：浸矿侵蚀作用对离子型稀土矿底板基岩力学性质的影响主要表现在前150 d,破坏形式由贯穿破坏转变为贯穿破坏与片状剥落并存;浸矿母液侵蚀作用下,基岩力学特性呈现先大幅减小后大幅回升,其后在小范围波动现象,浸矿约60 d对基岩力学特性的影响程度最大;浸矿母液侵蚀造成基岩内小孔隙增长,导致表面出现腐蚀及孔洞现象;浸矿时间不同将造成岩石不同的微观结构变化。     

干旱区盐碱尘暴的形成、输送及其环境效应

盐碱尘暴是富含细粒硫酸盐和氯化物的化学尘暴,是大气颗粒物PM10的重要来源之一。盐碱尘暴的产生、输送和沉降对区域甚至全球生态环境和气候变化具有重大影响。本文分析了盐碱尘暴的化学组成及其危害,对盐碱尘暴的形成、输送及其环境效应作了研究综述。结果表明：干旱区干涸湖床是盐碱尘暴的发源地,风蚀作用下干涸湖床盐粒和粉尘的扩散过程主要受风场、区域气候特征和地下水埋深的影响。构建综合风动力和下垫面因子的盐粒风蚀物扩散模型,加强盐分风—水两相运移耦合作用及其与流域景观变化的关系研究是盐碱尘暴的突破方向。     

甘孜州九龙县水土流失评价研究

本文以九龙县为研究区,根据沟壑密度、坡度、植被盖度、土地利用类型和高程5个因子,结合ARC-GIS空间分析功能和MATLAB数学建模编程的功能,应用GA-BP模型(遗传算法优化BP神经网络)对研究区的水土流失进行非线性智能定量评价,并与层次分析法的结果对比分析,阐述了GA-BP模型的优越性。本次研究可以为九龙县水土流失预防和治理提供有益的参考。