Abstract
Gully systems and watersheds are geomorphic units with clear boundaries that are relatively independent of basin landscapes and play an important role in natural geography. In order to explore the morphological characteristics of gully systems and watersheds in the Dry-Hot Valley [South West (SW) China], gullies are interpreted from online Google images with high resolution and watersheds are extracted from digital elevation model at a scale of 1:50,000. The results show that: (1) There are 17,382 gullies (with a total area of 1141.66 km2) and 42 watersheds in the study area. (2) The average gully density of the study area (D) is 4.29 km/km2, gully frequency (F) is 14.39 gullies/km2, the branching ratio (B) is 5.13, the length ratio (L) is 3.12, and the coefficient of the main and tributary gullies (M) is 0.06. The degree of gully erosion is strong to extremely strong, the main development intensity of gully erosion ranges from intense to moderate, and the type of gully system is tributary. (3) The watershed areas (A) are between 0.39 and 96.43 km2, the relief ratio (R) is from 0.10 to 0.19, the circularity ratio (C) is from 0.30 to 0.83, the texture ratio (T) is from 0.82 to 39.35, and the dominant geomorphological texture type is fine. (4) There is a quantitative relationship between F and D:F = 0.624D2 (R =0.84) and T is closely related to D, F, M (R2 > 0.7). A, R and C are related to M (R2 > 0.5). The development of gully systems is the result of coupling effects between multiple factors. In this area, the degree of erosion and the condition of the main and tributary gullies can be controlled by the degree of topographic breakage in the watershed, which provides some theoretical basis for the evaluation of gully erosion by the latter. In addition, the scale, relief, and shape have a significant impact on the locations of the main and tributary gullies. For tributary gullies, attention should be paid to the interception and control of runoff and sediment in the small confluence branches in order to prevent gully expansion and head advance. These features can inform the development of targeted measures for the control of soil erosion.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Abdulfatai IA, Okunlola IA, Akande WG, Momoh LO, Ibrahim KO (2014) Review of gully erosion in Nigeria: causes impacts and possible solutions. Catena 50:91–133. https://doi.org/10.12691/jgg-2-3-8
Apitz S, White S (2003) A conceptual framework for river-basin-scale sediment management. J Soils Sedim 3:132–138. https://doi.org/10.1065/jss2003.08.083
Chen H (1986) A preliminary study on geomorphic features of small drainage basins on the Loess Plateau in Northern Shanxi. Geogr Res 5:82–92
Chen JC, Jiang MQ (1986) Digital model of drainage geomorphic. Science Press, Beijing
Deng Q et al (2015) Characterizing the morphology of gully cross-sections based on PCA: a case of Yuanmou Dry-Hot Valley. Geomorphology 228:703–713. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2014.10.032
Dissmeyer GE, Foster GR (1981) Estimating the cover-managment (C) in the universal soil loss equation for forest conditions. J Soil Water Conserv 36:235–240. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.05.021
Dong Y et al (2013) Critical topographic threshold of gully erosion in Yuanmou Dry-Hot Valley in Southwestern China. Phys Geogr 34:50–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/02723646.2013.778691
Gawrysiak L, Harasimiuk M (2012) Spatial diversity of gully density of the Lublin Upland and Roztocze Hills (SE Poland). Ann UMCS 67:27–43. https://doi.org/10.2478/v10066-012-0002-y
Goudge TA, Fassett CI, Head JW, Mustard JF, Aureli KL (2016) Insights into surface runoff on early Mars from paleolake basin morphology and stratigraphy. Geology 44:419–422. https://doi.org/10.1130/G37734.1
Gravelius H (1914) Grundrifi der gesamten Gewcisserkunde. Band I: Flufikunde (Compendium of Hydrology, vol I. Rivers, in German). Goschen, Berlin
Gregory KJ, Walling DE (1973) Drainage basin form and process: a geomorphological approach. Willey, New York
Gurbanov EA, Ganieva SA (2017) Intensity of gully erosion in arid zone of Azerbaijan republic (by the example of the region of the Mingechaur water reservoir) Arid. Ecosystems 7:251–255. https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079096117040023
Hack JT (1957) Studies of longitudinal stream profiles in Virginia and Maryland. US Geol Surv Prof Pap 294B:45–97
Horton RE (1945) Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins: hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Bull Geol Soc Am 56:275–370. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1945)56%5b275:EDOSAT%5d2.0.CO;2
Hou L-G (2006) Statistical analysis of valley morphology on Debris flow gully in mountain area of southwest-taking Xiaojiang Valley in Yunnan Province as example. Res Soil Water Conserv 13:94–96
Kheir RB, Chorowicz J, Abdallah C, Dhont D (2008) Soil and bedrock distribution estimated from gully form and frequency: a GIS-based decision-tree model for Lebanon. Geomorphology 93:482–492. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2007.03.010
Langbein WB (1947) Topographic characteristics of drainage basin. In: Geological survey water-supply paper, vol 968-c. United States Government Printing Office, Washington
Leopold LB, Wolman MG, Miller JP (1995) Fluvial processes in geomorphology, vol 131. Dover Publications Inc, New York
Li Z, Zhang Y, Zhu Q, Yang S, Li H, Ma H (2017) A gully erosion assessment model for the Chinese Loess Plateau based on changes in gully length and area. Catena 148:195–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2016.04.018
Lin D et al (2017) Morphology and controlling factors of the longitudinal profile of gullies in the Yuanmou Dry-Hot Valley. J Mt Sci 14:674–693. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11629-016-4189-7
Liu Z-W, Li Y-S (2003) Study on classification of gully erosion in the remained loess area. Soil Water Conserv China (9):28–30. https://doi.org/10.14123/j.cnki.swcc.2003.09.017
Liu L, Shi C, Sun J, Zhao T (2013) Analysis on the watershed features in hilly and gulliy loess area in west Shanxi. J Arid Land Resour Environ 27:146–152. https://doi.org/10.13448/j.cnki.jalre.2013.04.030
Luffman IE, Nandi A, Spiegel T (2015) Gully morphology, hillslope erosion, and precipitation characteristics in the Appalachian Valley and Ridge province, southeastern USA. Catena 133:221–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2015.05.015
Miller RL, Kahn JS (1962) Statistical analysis in the geological sciences. Wiley, New York
Morisawa ME (1962) Quantitative geomorphology of some watersheds in the appalachian plateau. Geol Soc Am Bull 73:1025–1046. https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1962)73%5b1025:QGOSWI%5d2.0.CO;2
Mu H, Deng Q, Zhang B, Qin F, Luo M, Liu H, Liu S (2015) Distributive directions of gully system in Yuanmou Dry-Hot Valley. Arab J Geosci 8:10313–10324. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-015-1981-6
Qian F (1991) Quaternary geology and ancient humanity. Science Press, Beijing
Qu F (2017) Runoff and sediment characteristics of slope gully system—a case study of Anjiagou River Basin Anhui. Agric Sci Bull 23:148–150. https://doi.org/10.16377/j.cnki.issn1007-7731.2017.10.063
Schumm SA (1954) The Relation of drainage basin relief to sediment loss. Int Assoc Sci Hydrol 36:216–219
Schumm SA, Khan HR (1971) Experimental study of channel patterns. Nature 233:407–409. https://doi.org/10.1038/233407a0
Shuai QF (1981) Morphological analysis of small watershed gully system in Northern Shaanxi. Bull Soil Water Conserv 4:23–28. https://doi.org/10.13961/j.cnki.stbctb.1981.03.004
Smith KG (1950) Standards for grading texture of erosional topography. Am J Sci 248:655–668
Strahler AN (1954) Statistical analysis in geomorphic research. J Geol 62:1–25. https://doi.org/10.1086/626131
Strahler AN (1957) Quantitative analysis of watershed geomorphology. Trans Am Geophys Union 38:913–920. https://doi.org/10.1029/TR038i006p00913
Vanacker V, Govers G, Poesen J, Deckers J, Dercon G, Loaiza G (2003) The impact of environmental change on the intensity and spatial pattern of water erosion in a semi-arid mountainous Andean environment. CATENA 51:329–347. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0341-8162(02)00172-8
Xu XH, Sui YY, Zhang Y, Ou Y, Luo LL, Li Y (2014) Development of gully erosion and its influencing factors in hilly regions of Northeast China. Acta Pedol Sin. https://doi.org/10.11766/trxb201310250485
Zhang HJ (2014) Elements of soil erosion. Science Press, Beijing
Zhang T, Tang G, Liu X, Zhou Y, Jia D (2007) Multi-scale structure of channel network in Jiuyuangou drainage basin. Proc Spie 6753:67532O–67532O-9
Zhang B, Qin F, Liu G, Ai N, Di B (2009) Ecological restoration strategy for Yuanmou Dry-Hot Valley based on immune defensive structure. In: PIAGENG 2009: intelligent information, control, and communication technology for agricultural engineering, pp 74902V–74902V–74908. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.836633
Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful for financial support from the Meritocracy Research Funds of China West Normal University (17YC134, 17YC105), Project of Sichuan Provincial Department of Education and Ecological Security Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province (ESP201301), the Project of Science & Technology Department of Sichuan Province (2018SZ0337, 2017JY0189), the Project of Sichuan Provincial Department of Education (16ZB0182, 18TD0025, 18ZA0465).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, Z., Qin, F., Zhang, B. et al. The morphological characteristics of gully systems and watersheds in Dry-Hot Valley, SW China. Acta Geochim 37, 854–866 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-018-0299-y
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-018-0299-y