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Effect of coir geotextile and geocell on ephemeral gully erosion in the Mollisol region of Northeast China

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Abstract

The unique geomorphological features and farming methods in the Mollisol region of Northeast China increase water catchment flow and aggravate the erosion of ephemeral gully (EG). Vegetation suffers from rain erosion and damage during the growth stage, which brings serious problems to the restoration of grass in the early stage. Therefore, effects of coir geotextile and geocell on EG erosion under four confluence intensities were researched in this study. Results of the simulated water discharge erosion test showed that when the confluence strength was less than 30 L/min, geocell and coir geotextile had a good effect on controlling EG erosion, and sediment yield of geocell and coir geotextile was reduced by 25.95%–37.82% and 73.73%–88.96%, respectively. However, when confluence intensity increased to 40 L/min, protective effect of coir geotextile decreased, and sediment yield rate increased sharply by 189.03%. When confluence intensity increased to 50 L/min, the protective effect of coir geotextile was lost. On the other hand, geocell showed that the greater the flow rate, the better the protective effect. In addition, with the increase in confluence intensity, erosion pattern of coir geotextile developed from sheet erosion to intermittent fall and then to completion of main rill, and the protective effect was gradually weakened. In contrast, the protective effect of EG under geocell was gradually enhanced from the continuous rill to the intermittent rill and finally to the intermittent fall. This study shows that coir geotextile and geocell can prevent EG erosion, and the effect of geocell is better than that of coir geotextile on the surface of EG.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41907047), the China Scholarship Council (202106515016), and the Strategic International Collaboration of Scientific and Technological Innovation for the National Key Research and Development Plan (2016YFE0202900).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Soil and Water Conservation, Beijing Forestry University, Beijing, 100083, China

    Xijin Qin, Yan Zhang & Yinghui Guan

  2. Tianjin Eco-Environmental Protection Design & Research Institute, Tianjin, 300042, China

    Yiqiu Sun

  3. College of Environmental Science and Safety Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin, 300384, China

    Hailong Wu & Xinyu Wang

  4. Faculty of Forestry, University of British Columbia, 2424 Main Mall, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada

    Guangyu Wang

Authors
  1. Xijin Qin
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  2. Yiqiu Sun
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  3. Yan Zhang
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  4. Yinghui Guan
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  5. Hailong Wu
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  6. Xinyu Wang
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  7. Guangyu Wang
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Contributions

Conceptualization and methodology: QIN Xijin, SUN Yiqiu; Formal analysis: SUN Yiqiu, WANG Xinyu, WU Hailong; Writing - original draft preparation: QIN Xijin, SUN Yiqiu, ZHANG Yan; Writing - review and editing: WANG Guangyu; Funding acquisition: GUAN Yinghui. All authors approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yan Zhang.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Qin, X., Sun, Y., Zhang, Y. et al. Effect of coir geotextile and geocell on ephemeral gully erosion in the Mollisol region of Northeast China. J. Arid Land 16, 518–530 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-024-0012-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-024-0012-4

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