Ephemeral gully development in the hilly and gully region of China's loess plateau

Bibliographic Data

ID21649232
AuthorsBoyang Liu (0000-0003-1532-7754, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education Northwest A & F University Yangling China), Biao Zhang (0009-0000-4520-729X, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education Northwest A & F University Yangling China), Ziming Yin (0000-0002-7572-1748, College of Natural Resources and Environment Northwest A&F University Yangling China), Bai Hao (Sichuan Expressway Construction & Development Group Co., Ltd Chengdu China), Shufang Wu (0000-0002-0825-8773, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education Northwest A & F University Yangling China, corresponding author), Hao Feng (0009-0005-5411-1077, Key Laboratory of Agricultural Soil and Water Engineering in Arid and Semiarid Areas, Ministry of Education Northwest A & F University Yangling China), Guangjie Chen (0000-0001-8035-6565, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation), Kadambot H M Siddique (0000-0001-6097-4235, The UWA Institute of Agriculture and School of Agriculture & Environment The University of Western Australia Perth Western Australia Australia)
Year2024
Volume35
Issue1
Pages128-141
Publication date2024-01-15
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLand Degradation and Development (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1085-3278 • E-ISSN: 1099-145X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1002/ldr.4904
OpenAlexW4386545792
LanguageEN
References cited95

Ephemeral gully erosion is a significant form of soil erosion that visibly impacts soil productivity and restricts land use. While watersheds are fundamental for controlling soil erosion, past studies have focused on individual ephemeral gully or slope types, which do not fully represent changes in ephemeral gullies at the watershed scale. This research used remote sensing images (0.5 m resolution), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), and field investigations to analyze the spatial–temporal evolution and development rate of ephemeral gully erosion at the watershed scale on the Loess Plateau from 2009 to 2021. Using spatial information and morphological parameters of ephemeral gullies obtained from the SegNet model, we found that: (1) ephemeral gully numbers decreased from 4495 in 1999 to 2312 in 2021 due to improved vegetation coverage; (2) average growth rates of ephemeral gully frequency, length, density, dissection degree, and width were 2.87 km −2 year −1 , 1.66 m year −1 , 0.12 km km −2 year −1 , 0.01% year −1 , and 0.04 m year −1 , respectively; (3) ephemeral gully erosion volume ( V ) and length ( L ) had a good power function relationship: . The root‐mean‐square error (RMSE) and coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) between measured and predicted ephemeral gully volumes indicated that the V–L relationship has a good predictive ability for ephemeral gully volume; thus, the V–L model was used to evaluate the development rate of ephemeral gully erosion volume in small watersheds from 2009 to 2021, revealing an average value of 743.20 m 3 year −1 . This study presents an empirical model for assessing ephemeral gully volume and volume changes at a watershed scale using high‐resolution remote sensing images, providing a reference for understanding the development of ephemeral gully erosion in small watersheds over time

Ephemeral key · Erosion · Geomorphology · Geotechnical engineering · Gully Erosion · Loess · Loess plateau · Watershed · Aeolian processes and effects · Hydrology and Sediment Transport Processes · Soil erosion and sediment transport · Ecology · Geology · Soil Science

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