Abstract
Gullies contribute very efficiently to soil loss and degradation, particularly in Mediterranean environments. While natural factors are involved in gully formation and further development, anthropic action is almost always an element. Knowledge of formation and development factors are important if soil protection strategies and measures are to be effective. In this paper, we identify the most important factors in the development of gullies in a Mediterranean setting based on a study of the Alva gully (central Portugal). Its development in the last four years is examined, based on a study of the modification of its morphological characteristics. The analysis was based on principal component analysis (PCA) to estimate the correlation between the quantitative characteristics, geomorphological processes, and biophysical variables. The results show that the main factors that seem to control the spatial variation of soil erosion are the soil penetration resistance, slope, slope shape, and vegetation cover.
Highlights
Academic Editors: Gergely Tóth, Water erosion problems are a major factor in causing environmental impacts, including land degradation [1]
Several authors [12,13] state that in some areas more than 80% of sediment is produced by gully erosion, making it one of the most destructive types [14,15]
Various natural factors are seen as fundamental to the formation of gullies, including topographic thresholds, soil and lithologic controls, land use and climate change [13,17]. All these drivers together confirm the importance of increasing the urgency for gully erosion research and reinforcing the combined efforts of monitoring, modeling, and managing soil loss processes and landscape degradation [11]
Summary
Academic Editors: Gergely Tóth, Water erosion problems are a major factor in causing environmental impacts, including land degradation [1]. Various natural factors are seen as fundamental to the formation of gullies, including topographic thresholds (such as slope gradients and soil crusts), soil and lithologic controls (soil, lithologic and geomorphology factors; soil crusting; piping), land use and climate change (present and past changes in land use) [13,17] All these drivers together confirm the importance of increasing the urgency for gully erosion research and reinforcing the combined efforts of monitoring, modeling, and managing soil loss processes and landscape degradation [11]. Works on the monitoring of a permanent gully system are still scarce [38,49], which could perhaps be related to the very time-consuming and labor-intensive nature of the task Such works are interesting in that they help to identify the main elements in the origin and evolution of gullies. The main objectives of this work were (a) to analyze the evolution of a gully located on a granite substratum in a Mediterranean environment, over a 5-year study period between 2015 and 2019, and (b) to identify the main factors responsible for the spatial and temporal differences in erosion rates observed within the specified gully
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