Abstract
Gully head erosion causes serious land degradation in semiarid regions. The existing studies on gully head erosion are mainly based on measuring the gully volume in small-scale catchments, which is a labor-intensive and time-consuming approach. Therefore, it is necessary to explore an accurate method quantitatively over large areas and long periods. The objective of this study was to develop a model to assess gully head erosion in the Loess Plateau of China using a method based on the SBAS-InSAR technique. The gully heads were extracted from the digital elevation model and validated by field investigation and aerial images. The surface deformation was estimated with SBAS-InSAR and 22 descending ALOS PALSAR datasets from 2007 to 2011. A gully head erosion model was developed; this model can incorporate terrain factors and soil types, as well as provides erosion rate predictions consistent with the SBAS-InSAR measurements (R2 = 0.889). The results show that gully head erosion significantly depends on the slope angle above the gully head, slope length, topographic wetness index, and catchment area. The relationship between these factors and the gully head erosion rate is a power function, and the average rate of gully head erosion is 7.5 m3/m2/year, indicating the high erosional vulnerability of the area. The accuracy of the model can be further improved by considering other factors, such as the stream power factor, curvature, and slope aspect. This study indicates that the erosion rate of gully heads is almost unaffected by soil type in the research area. An advantage of this model is that the gully head area and surface deformation can be easily extracted and measured from satellite images, which is effective for assessing gully head erosion at a large scale in combination with SBAS-InSAR results and terrain attributes.
Highlights
Erosion is one of the most hazardous forms of soil erosion [1,2]
We explored the relationship among terrain attributes and the gully head erosion rate, and the gully head erosion rate was measured with SBAS-InSAR
415 gully heads are extracted by the digital elevation models (DEMs), and this approach is proven to be feasible by comparing the results with field survey data and digital orthophoto maps
Summary
Erosion is one of the most hazardous forms of soil erosion [1,2]. It is a severe land degradation problem in almost all climatic and geographical areas, especially in theLoess Plateau [3,4]. Erosion is one of the most hazardous forms of soil erosion [1,2]. It is a severe land degradation problem in almost all climatic and geographical areas, especially in the. Loess Plateau [3,4]. Has an important and strategic position in China [5]. Erosion-related ecological and resource crises in this region severely impede its social and economic development [6]. Erosion is considered a major challenge for land resource degradation and is becoming increasingly widespread [7]. Gully erosion has been recognized as an important environmental issue [8]
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