Effect of slope gradient on the subsurface water flow velocity of sand layer profile

Subsurface water flow velocity influences the hydrodynamic characteristics of soil seepage and the interaction between subsurface water flow and surface runoff during soil erosion and sediment transport.A visualized method and equipment was adopted in this study to observe the subsurface water flow.Quartz sand was used as the test material of subsurface water flow and fluorescent dye was used as the indicator for tracing subsurface water flow.Water was supplied at the same flow discharge to the three parts at the bottom of the test flume,and the subsurface water flow were determined with four slope gradients(4°,8°,10°,and 12°).The results showed that the seepage velocity gradually increased with increasing slope gradient.The pore water velocity at different depths of sand layer profile increased with increasing slope gradient,whereas the thickness of the flow front gradually decreased.For the same slope gradient,the pore water velocity in the lower layer was the largest,whereas the thickness of the flow front was the smallest.Comparative analysis of the relationship between seepage velocity and pore water velocity at different depths of sand layer profile showed that the maximum relative difference between the measured pore water velocity and the computational pore water velocity at different depths of sand profile in the experiment was 4.38%.Thus,the test method for measuring the subsurface water flow velocity of sand layer profile adopted in this study was effective and feasible.The development of this experiment and the exploration of research methods would lay a good test foundation for future studies on the variation law of subsurface water flow velocity and the determination of flow velocity in purple soils,thus contributing to the improvement of the hydrodynamic mechanism of purple soils.

The characteristics of rill development and their effects on runoff and sediment yield under different slope gradients

Rill formation is the predominant erosion process in slope land in the Loess Plateau, China. This study was conducted to investigate rill erosion characteristics and their effects on runoff and sediment yielding processes under different slope gradients at a rate of 10°, 15°, 20° and 25° with rainfall intensity of 1.5 mm min-1 in a laboratory setting. Results revealed that mean rill depth and rill density has a positive interrelation to the slope gradient. To the contrary, width-depth ratio and distance of the longest rill to the top of the slope negatively related to slope gradient. All these suggested that increasing slope steepness could enhance rill headward erosion, vertical erosion and the fragmentation of the slope surface. Furthermore,total erosion tended to approach a stable maximum value with increasing slope, which implied that there is probably a threshold slope gradient where soil erosion begins to weaken. At the same time, the correlation analysis showed that there was a close connection between slope gradient and the variousindices of soil erosion: the correlation coefficients of slope gradient with maximal rill depth, number of rills and the distance of the longest rill from the top of the slope were 0.98, 0.97 and-0.98, respectively,indicating that slope gradient is the major factor of affecting the development of rills. Furthermore,runoff was not sensitive to slope gradient and rill formation in this study. Sediment concentration,however, is positively related to slope gradient and rill formation, the sediment concentrations increased rapidly after rill initiation, especially. These results may be essential for soil loss prediction.

Influence of Gradient on Stability of Soil Slope Containing Roots

Abundant herbaceous and shrub roots play an important role in preventing water and soil erosion and increasing shallow slope stability. In order to make a quantitative analysis on the contribution of root system to slope stability under dif- ferent slope gradient, an unconsolidated and undrained triaxial compression test was conducted to measure the shear strengths of soil and root-soil composite in the two slopes in eastern Qinghai Province. In addition, under the protection of plant roots, the effect of gradient on stability of soil slope was investigated by limit equilibrium method. The results showed that the stability coefficient of soil slope planted with two kinds of brush was decreased with the increase in slope gradient, and the sta- bility coefficient increment of soil slope containing Atriplex canescens roots was higher than that containing Caragana korshinskii roots. When the slope gradient ranged from 25° to 50°, the stability coefficient of soil slope planted with Atriplex canescens or Caragana korshinskii ranged from 0.80 to 1.38. However, when the slope gradient exceeded 55°, the increment of stability coefficient of soil slope became small.

Determination of the critical rainfall of runoff-initiated debris flows by the perspective of physical mechanics and Shields stress

The critical rainfall of runoff-initiated debris flows is utmost importance for local early hazard forecasting.This paper presents research on the critical rainfall of runoff-initiated debris flows through comparisons between slope gradients and three key factors,including topographic contributing area,dimensionless discharge,and Shields stress.The rainfall amount was estimated by utilizing in-situ rainfall records and a slope-dependent Shields stress model was created.The created model can predict critical Shields stress more accurately than the other two models.Furthermore,a new dimensionless discharge equation was proposed based on the corresponding discharge-gradient datasets.The new equation,along with factors such as contributing area above bed failure sites,channel width,and mean diameter of debris flow deposits,predicts a smaller rainfall amount than the in-situ measured records.Although the slope-dependent Shields stress model performs well and the estimated rainfall amount is lower than the in-situ records,the sediment initiation in the experiments falls within sheet flow regime due to a large Shields stress.Therefore,further sediment initiation experiments at a steeper slope range are expected in the future to ensure that the sediment transport belongs to mass failure regime characterized by a low level of Shields stress.Finally,a more accurate hazard forecast on the runoff-initiated debris flow holds promise when the corresponding critical slope-dependent dimensionless discharge of no motion,fluvial sediment transport,mass flow regime,and sheet flow regime are considered.

AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF INFILTRATION AND EROSION UNDER SLOPE GRADIENTS AND VEGETAL COVERS

The effect of slope gradient and vegetal cover on soil infiltration and erosion were studied with field simulator. Results showed that infiltration decreases with slope gradients (especially for gradient less than 10°) and increases with vegetal covers, while soil erosion increases with slope gradients and decreases with vegetal covers. Fittlng the data by Philip's infiltration equation it was found that in the equation, gravitational conductivity decreases with gradient and increases with vegetation, while diffusion decreases with vegetal cover and does not vary with slope gradient In the erosion process, the formation of a layer of thin water is crucial in dctermining the rainsplash and sheetwash. The increasing of erosion with slope gradient contributes mainly to the increase of velocity.

Effects of slope gradient on runoff from bare-fallow purple soil in China under natural rainfall conditions

Purple soil is highly susceptible for overland flow and surface erosion, therefore understanding surface runoff and soil erosion processes in the purple soil region are important to mitigate flooding and erosion hazards. Slope angle is an important parameter that affects the magnitude of runoff and thus surface erosion in hilly landscapes or bare land area. However, the effect of slope on runoff generation remains unclear in many different soils including Chinese purple soil. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between different slope gradients and surface runoff for bare-fallow purple soil, using 5 m × 1.5 m experimental plots under natural rainfall conditions. Four experimental plots(10°, 16°, 20° and 26°) were established in theYanting Agro-ecological Experimental Station of Chinese Academy of Science in central Sichuan Basin. The plot was equipped with water storage tank to monitor water level change. Field monitoring from July 1 to October 31, 2012 observed 42 rainfall events which produced surface runoff from the experimental plots. These water level changes were converted to runoff. The representative eight rainfall events were selected for further analysis, the relationship between slope and runoff coefficient were determined using ANOVA, F-test, and z-score analysis. The results indicated a strong correlation between rainfall and runoff in cumulative amount basis. The mean value of the measured runoff coefficient for four experimental plots was around 0.1. However, no statistically significant relationship was found between slope and runoff coefficient. We reviewed the relationship between slope and runoff in many previous studiesand calculated z-score to compare with our experimental results. The results of z-score analysis indicated that both positive and negative effects of slope on runoff coefficient were obtained, however a moderate gradient(16°-20° in this study) could be a threshold of runoff generation for many different soils including the Chinese purple soil.

INFLUENCES OF SLOPE GRADIENT ON SOIL EROSION

The main factors influencing soil erosion include the net rain excess, the water depth, the velocity, the shear stress of overland flows, and the erosion-resisting capacity of soil. The laws of these factors varying with the slope gradient were investigated by using the kinematic wave theory. Furthermore, the critical slope gradient of erosion was driven. The analysis shows that the critical slope gradient of soil erosion is dependent on grain size, soil bulk density, surface roughness, runoff length, net rain excess, and the friction coefficient of soil, etc. The critical slope gradient has been estimated theoretically with its range between 41.5 degrees similar to 50 degrees.

Characteristics of runoff processes and nitrogen loss via surface flow and interflow from weathered granite slopes of Southeast China

Rainfall intensity and slope gradient are two of the most important factors affecting the variations of runoff nitrogen(N).However,the effects of slope gradient and rainfall intensity on N loss via surface flow and interflow on weathered granite slopes are poorly understood.In this study,12 artificial rainfalls(three rainfall intensities and four slope gradients)were simulated to investigate the coupling loss characteristics of surface flow–interflow–total nitrogen(TN),nitrate nitrogen(NO_3^--N)and ammonia nitrogen(NH_4^+-N)on weathered granite slopes.The results show that slope gradient has a greater impact on the surface flow when the rainfall intensity is relatively large.The effect gradually weakens with the decrement of rainfall intensity.The interflow yield increases firstly with the prolongation of rainfall duration,then tends to be stable and finally decreases.The total surface flow percentage increases with rainfall intensity while it decreases with increasing slope gradient with a range of 10.88%-71.47%.The TN loss concentration of the surface flow continually decreases with rainfall duration while that of the interflow shows different fluctuations.However,the TN loss loads of both surface flow and interflow increase with increasing rainfall intensity and slope gradient.The NO_3^--N concentration of interflow is much higher than that of the surface flow.The NH_4^+-N concentration is always less than that of NO_3^--N with no significant difference between surface flow and interflow.The percentages of the TN,NO_3^--N,and NH_4^+-N total loss load and concentration of surface flow and interflow were analyzed.The results show that N loss via both surface flow and interflow occurs mainly in the form of NO_3^--N.Most of the N loss is caused by interflow which is the preferential path of runoff nutrient loss.These findings provide data support and underlying insights for the control of runoff and N loss on the weathered granite slopes.

Effects of rainfall intensity and topography on rill development and rill characteristics on loessial hillslopes in China

Rill development is a major soil erosion process that causes severe soil degradation.This study examined the effects of representative rainfall intensities(50 and 75 mm h-1),slope gradients(10°and 150),and slope lengths(7.5 and 10.0 m)on rill development and rill characteristics on loessial hillslopes in China.Loessial soil was collected from the cropland of Ansai Town,Yan’an City,Shaanxi Province.The soil with 28.3%sand,58.1%silt,and13.6%clay was packed into a soil pan to conduct rainfall simulations in 2012.The results showed that the time of the knickpoint occurrence(5-16 min),the rill headcut extension(9-33 min),and the mean headward erosion rate(1.7-5.o cm min-1)were better representative indicators for reflecting the changes in the rill development than other indicators used in this study.For a quick evaluation of the rill erosion severity,the rill coverage ratio(1%-12%,generallyincreasing with an increase in the rainfall intensity)was better than the other indicators for treatments with different rainfall intensities,and the rill width-depth ratio(1.56-2.27,generally decreasing with an increase in the slope gradient)was better than the other indicators for treatments with different slope gradients.Furthermore,the rill inclination angle(8.2°-19.1°,significantly increasing with an increase in the slope length)and rill density(0.19-1.34 m·m-2,generally increasing with an increase in the slope length)were more suitable for evaluating the rill erosion severity on hillslopes with different slope lengths.Therefore,the representative indicators could reflect the differences in the rill development and rill characteristics under different rainfall and topographic situations.The study greatly improved the evaluation of rill erosion severity and the prediction of the development of rills for loessial hillslopes.

Rainfall and inflow effects on soil erosion for hillslopes dominated by sheet erosion or rill erosion in the Chinese Mollisol region

Erosion agents and patterns profoundly affect hillslope soil loss characteristics. However, few attempts have been made to analyze the effects of rainfall and inflow on soil erosion for hillslopes dominated by sheet erosion or rill erosion in the Chinese Mollisol region. The objective of this study was to discuss the erosive agent(rainfall or inflow), hillslope erosion pattern(sheet erosion or rill erosion) and slope gradient effects on runoff and soil losses. Two soil pans(2.0 m long, 0.5 m wide and 0.5 m deep) with 5° and 10° slopes were subjected to rainfall(0 and 70 mm h–1) and inflow(0 and 70 mm h–1) experiments. Three experimental combinations of rainfall intensity(RI) and inflow rate(IR) were tested using the same water supply of 70 mm by controllingthe run time. A flat soil surface and a soil bed with a straight initial rill were prepared manually, and represented hillslopes dominated by sheet erosion and rill erosion, respectively. The results showed that soil losses had greater differences among treatments than total runoff. Soil losses decreased in the order of RI70+IR70 > RI70+IR0 > RI0+IR70. Additionally, soil losses for hillslopes dominated by rill erosion were 1.7-2.2 times greater at 5° and 2.5-6.9 times greater at 10° than those for hillslopes dominated by sheet erosion. The loss of <0.25 mm soil particles and aggregates varying from 47.72%-99.60% of the total soil loss played a dominant role in the sediment. Compared with sheet erosion hillslopes, rill erosion hillslopes selectively transported more microaggregates under a relatively stable rill development stage, but rills transported increasinglymore macroaggregates under an active rill development stage. In conclusion, eliminating raindrop impact on relatively gentle hillslopes and preventing rill development on relatively steep hillslopes would be useful measures to decrease soil erosion and soil degradation in the Mollisol region of northeastern China.

Soil Organic Carbon Loss under Different Slope Gradients in Loess Hilly Region

Based on field runoff plots observation and sample analysis, the effect of slope gradient on soil organic carbon loss was studied under natural rainfall conditions in loess hilly region. The results showed that with slope gradient increasing （from10° to 30°）, the changing trend of soil erosion intensity （A） was A20°〉A30°〉A15°〉A10°〉A25°, suggesting that slope gradient between 20° and 25° was a critical degree ranger to exist. Soil organic carbon loss was mainly influenced by soil erosion intensity, appearing the same trend as did soil erosion intensity with increasing slope gradient. Soil erosion results in organic carbon enrichment in sediment. Average enrichment ratios of five runoff plots varied from 2.27 to 3.74, and decreased with increasing erosion intensity and slope gradient. The decrease of surface runoff and soil erosion is the key to reduce soil organic carbon loss.

Prediction of the instability probability for rainfall induced landslides:the effect of morphological differences in geomorphology within mapping units

Slope units is an effective mapping unit for rainfall landslides prediction at regional scale.At present,slope units extracted by hydrology and morphological method report very different morphological feature and boundaries.In order to investigate the effect of morphological difference on the prediction performance,this paper presents a general landslide probability analysis model for slope units.Monte Carlo method was used to describe the spatial uncertainties of soil mechanical parameters within slope units,and random search technique was performed to obtain the minimum safety factor;transient hydrological processes simulation was used to provide key hydrological parameters required by the model,thereby achieving landslide prediction driven by quantitative precipitation estimation and forecasting data.The prediction performance of conventional slope units(CSUs)and homogeneous slope units(HSUs)were analyzed in three case studies from Fengjie County,China.The results indicate that the mean missing alarm rate of CSUs and HSUs are 31.4% and 10.6%,respectively.Receiver Operating Characteristics(ROC)analysis also reveals that HSUs is capable of improving the overall prediction performance,and may be used further for rainfall-induced landslide prediction at regional scale.

Soil Organic Carbon Pools in Particle-Size Fractions as Affected by Slope Gradient and Land Use Change in Hilly Regions,Western Iran

This study was conducted to explore the effects of topography and land use changes on particulate organic carbon(POC),particulate total nitrogen(PTN),organic carbon(OC) and total nitrogen(TN) associated with different size primary particle fractions in hilly regions of western Iran.Three popular land uses in the selected site including natural forest(NF),disturbed forest(DF) and cultivated land(CL) and three slope gradients(0-10 %,S1,10-30 %,S2,and 30-50%,S3) were employed as the basis of soil sampling.A total of 99 soil samples were taken from the 0-10 cm surface layer in the whole studied hilly region studied.The results showed that the POC in the forest land use in all slope gradients was considerably more than the deforested and cultivated lands and the highest value was observed at NF-S1 treatment with 9.13%.The values of PTN were significantly higher in the forest land use and in the down slopes(0.5%) than in the deforested and cultivated counterparts and steep slopes(0.09%) except for the CL land use.The C:N ratios in POC fraction were around 17-18 in the forest land and around 23 in the cultivated land.In forest land,the silt-associated OC was highest among the primary particles.The enrichment factor of SOC,EC,was the highest for POC.For the primary particles,EC of both primary fractions of silt and clay showed following trend for selected land uses and slope gradients:CL> DF> NF and S3 > S2> S1.Slope gradient of landscape significantly affected the OC and TN contents associated with the silt and clay particles,whereas higher OC and TN contents were observed in lower positions and the lowest value was measured in the steep slopes.Overall,the results showed that native forest land improves soil organic carbon storage and can reduce the carbon emission and soil erosion especially in the mountainous regions with high rainfall in west of Iran.

Regulations and patterns of soil moisture dynamics and their controlling factors in hilly regions of lower reaches of Yangtze River basin,China

Time-domain reflectometry was used to make continuous measurements of soil moisture to 18 sample points with depth of 2 m for 36 months in a typical artificial secondary oak forest located in a hilly area on Zijin Mountain in the suburbs of Nanjing,China.The data were then used to examine the patterns of soil moisture variations on temporal and spatial scales and predict the relationships between soil moisture and major factors of both meteorology and topography.Water in the topsoil was active,and the upper 30 cm of soil supplied about 43% of the water content variation during the whole year.This difference of water content changes among layers could be due to the distribution conditions of some soil physical properties.When initial soil moisture was in the range from 10% to 40%,the impact of a single storm event on soil moisture was extremely significant,especially on sunny slope.Both climate and slope condition were related to soil moisture change,and the impact of slope gradient on soil moisture was higher that on shady slope.Moreover,root uptake was another important path of soil water consumption.

Stability evaluation and protection of slope for Laosongling-Yanji Highway

The authors analyzed the engineering geological characteristics of the slope of the study area (K75+840-K76+340). Two typical cross-sections have been chosen to analyze the failure modes after the excavation of the highway. Different types of the failure modes have been calculated and analyzed. The results show that some dealing methods have been advised to ensure the stability of the slopes.

Evaluation of Different Topographic Parameters Extracted from the Digital Elevation Measurements with the Use of Geostatistical Interpolation Methods

Gradient slope, aspect slope, profiling and contourlines are important topographic parameters that can be derived from digital elevation data obtained from different sources with exploitation of different interpolation techniques. Geostatistical interpolation methods such as ordinary kriging models constitute reliable alternatives to deterministic approaches in creation of continuous surface models from discrete elevation data. This research aimed at extraction, analysis, and evaluation of different terrain parameters elevation measurements with the use of different ordinary kriging models including the linear model, the circular model, the spherical model, the exponential models, and the Gaussian model. Different ordinary kriging models under ESRI ArcView 3.3 package along with its 3D analyst and Spatial analysis extensions have been exploited in extraction of gradient slope maps, aspect slope maps, and hillshade maps in addition to contourline maps from a sample of elevation data. Visual analysis of the gradient slope maps shows great similarities between the slope maps from the linear, circular, spherical, and exponential OK models, however, that from OK Gaussian models look very different as different sizes and arrangements of the colour patches, referring to different tones and different textures where smooth tones and smooth textures dominate the gradient slope map from the OK Gaussian model. Thus, gradient slope degradation and smoothing are considerably high in the gradient slope map from Gaussian model compared to the slope maps from the other four OK models. Also, the mean slope in the Gaussian model records the lowest value with the lowest value of the standard deviation of slopes in the same map reflecting less structured and highly smoothed gradient slope map compared to the slope maps from the other OK models. Thus, similar sizes of the colour patches and similar tones and similar texture dominate the different aspect slope maps. This is not the case in Figure 2(e) which depicts the aspect slope map extracted with the use of the Gaussian OK model where the smooth colour patches, smooth tones and smooth textures can be observed. Also, the Aspect map, hillshade map and the contourline map from Gaussian OK model are visually and statistically different from their corresponding maps created with the other four OK models. Finally, analysis of extracted two groups of profiles shows that the profiles extracted with the use of linear, circular, spherical, and exponential OK models run close and show highly corrugated and varied terrain. This is different from the profiles with the use of the Gaussian model which are less corrugated and tend to smooth and approximate different parts of the terrains.

Effect of Site Factor on Plant Community Characteristic in Closed Watershed in Loess Hilly and Gully Region

[Objective] The aim was to study the effect of site factor on plant community characteristic in closed watershed in loess hilly and gully region.[Method] Based on the investigation of vegetation in the closed watershed of Wuqi County in Shaanxi Province,the difference of plant community characteristic and species diversity under various site types was researched in our paper.[Result] In the investigation area,xerophytic herb was the main community,with sole species composition and simple community structure.Zonal vegetations were Artemisia sacrorum and Artemisia giraldii community;for plant diversity,the order of diversity index was ridge topgully bottomridge slopegully slope in various landform positions and semi-shady slopeshady slopesemi-sunny slopesunny slope in various slope aspects;with the increase of gradient,the diversity index of sunny slope changed with ＂S＂ type,and it reached maximum value at 37°.[Conclusion] Our study could provide theoretical foundation for vegetative restoration in loess hilly and gully region.

Slope stability prediction using ensemble learning techniques: A case study in Yunyang County, Chongqing, China

Slope stability prediction plays a significant role in landslide disaster prevention and mitigation.This study develops an ensemble learning-based method to predict the slope stability by introducing the random forest(RF)and extreme gradient boosting(XGBoost).As an illustration,the proposed approach is applied to the stability prediction of 786 landslide cases in Yunyang County,Chongqing,China.For comparison,the predictive performance of RF,XGBoost,support vector machine(SVM),and logistic regression(LR)is systematically investigated based on the well-established confusion matrix,which contains the known indices of recall rate,precision,and accuracy.Furthermore,the feature importance of the 12 influencing variables is also explored.Results show that the accuracy of the XGBoost and RF for both the training and testing data is superior to that of SVM and LR,revealing the superiority of the ensemble learning models(i.e.XGBoost and RF)in the slope stability prediction of Yunyang County.Among the 12 influencing factors,the profile shape is the most important one.The proposed ensemble learning-based method offers a promising way to rationally capture the slope status.It can be extended to the prediction of slope stability of other landslide-prone areas of interest.

Land subsidence induced by groundwater extraction and building damage level assessment—a case study of Datun, China

As in many parts of the world, long-term excessive extraction of groundwater has caused significant land-surface sub- sidence in the residential areas of Datun coal mining district in East China. The recorded maximum level of subsidence in the area since 1976 to 2006 is 863 mm, and the area with an accumulative subsidence more than 200 mm has reached 33.1 km2 by the end of 2006. Over ten cases of building crack due to ground subsidence have already been observed. Spatial variation in ground subsi- dence often leads to a corresponding pattern of ground deformation. Buildings and underground infrastructures have been under a higher risk of damage in locations with greater differential ground deformation. Governmental guideline in China classifies build- ing damages into four different levels, based on the observable measures such as the width of wall crack, the degree of door and window deformation, the degree of wall inclination and the degree of structural destruction. Building damage level (BDL) is esti- mated by means of ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient and curvature. Ground deformation analysis in terms of variations in slope gradient has shown that the areas of BDL III and BDL II sites account for about 0.013 km2 and 0.284 km2 respectively in 2006, and the predicted areas of BDL (define this first) III and II sites will be about 0.029 km2 and 0.423 km2 respectively by 2010. The situation is getting worse as subsidence continues. That calls for effective strategies for subsidence miti- gation and damage reduction, in terms of sustainable groundwater extraction, enhanced monitoring and the establishment of early warning systems.

Characteristics of pressure gradient force errors in a terrain-following coordinate

A terrain-following coordinate （a-coordinate） in which the computational form of pressure gradient force （PGF） is two-term （the so-called classic method） has significant PGF errors near steep terrain. Using the covariant equations of the a-coordinate to create a one-term PGF （the covariant method） can reduce the PGF errors. This study investigates the factors inducing the PGF errors of these two methods, through geometric analysis and idealized experiments. The geometric analysis first demonstrates that the terrain slope and the vertical pressure gradient can induce the PGF errors of the classic method, and then generalize the effect of the terrain slope to the effect of the slope of each vertical layer （φ）. More importantly, a new factor, the direction of PGF （a）, is proposed by the geometric analysis, and the effects of φ and a are quantified by tan φ.tan a. When tan φ.tan a is greater than 1/9 or smaller than -10/9, the two terms of PGF of the classic method are of the same order but opposite in sign, and then the PGF errors of the classic method are large. Finally, the effects of three factors on inducing the PGF errors of the classic method are validated by a series of idealized experiments using various terrain types and pressure fields. The experimental results also demonstrate that the PGF errors of the covariant method are affected little by the three factors.