ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Morphological Characteristics and Soil Mechanical
Properties of a Gully in the Dry-Hot Valley Region
of Southwestern China
| 1 | Key Laboratory of Mountain Hazards and Earth Surface Processes, Institute of Mountain
Hazards and the Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chengdu, Sichuan, China |
| 2 | University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China |
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Submission date: 2018-07-13
Final revision date: 2018-10-08
Acceptance date: 2018-10-18
Online publication date: 2019-08-02
Publication date: 2019-09-17
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2019;28(6):4467–4475
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Gully erosion is a dominant process causing severe soil loss and soil degradation in the Dry-Hot
Valley region of southwestern China. Little attention has been paid to the spatiotemporal variations
of the morphological characteristics of gullies. The aims of the present study were to explore gully
morphological characteristics and its soil mechanical properties. In our study, we identify the main
types of gullies according to their activity and the characteristics of their impact factors in the study
area. Results showed that 1) three different active gully types could be classified: active, semi-active and
stable; 2) the morphological characteristics of different active gullies were significantly different; 3) the
soil shear strength under different parts of gullies varies with different active degrees of gullies; and 4)
the gully head-cut height, gully wall-slope and its bed-gradient ratio were the most important indicators
for reflecting gully morphology, which was affected by soil mechanical properties in it. It is the premise
and foundation of further study on gully erosion to carry out the study of a gully’s morphological
characteristics. These findings improve the understanding of a gully’s morphological characteristics and
its soil mechanical properties in the Dry-Hot Valley region.
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