Search results for "erosion"
showing 10 items of 637 documents
Modelling sediment delivery using connectivity components at the experimental SPA2 basin, Sicily (Italy)
2018
Sediment delivery ratio can be used as a measure of sediment connectivity and it can be linked to the structural connectivity (morphological unit, slope length, slope steepness, travel time) of a basin and to the functional connectivity (rainfall-runoff processes at morphological unit scale). In this paper the sediment connectivity approach was applied at basin scale both using Sediment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) model, which takes into account the hillslope sediment transport, and sediment yield measurements carried out at SPA2 experimental basin (Sicily, Italy). The expression of the sediment delivery ratio SDRi of a morphological unit was modified for highlighting two components corresp…
Measuring soil erosion by field plots: Understanding the sources of variation
2006
Soil erosion plots of different types and sizes are widely used to investigate the geomorphological processes related to soil erosion. This field method has provided a variety of results, depending on the characteristics of the plots, on their suitability to reflect the ecosystem's characteristics and on the objectives of each particular research. The coupling of real soil loss at patch and slope scale within a landscape and the values obtained by field plots depend, among other things, on how good the methodology performs over a set of ecosystem properties, such as those related with temporal and spatial scale issues, disturbance and representation of natural conditions, and the ability to…
Finding Possible Weakness in the Runoff Simulation Experiments to Assess Rill Erosion Changes without Non-Intermittent Surveying Capabilities
2020
The Terrestrial Photogrammetry Scanner (TEPHOS) offers the possibility to precisely monitor linear erosion features using the Structure from Motion (SfM) technique. This is a static, multi-camera array and dynamically moves the digital videoframe camera designed to obtain 3-D models of rills before and after the runoff experiments. The main goals were to (1) obtain better insight into the rills
On Infiltration and Infiltration Characteristic Times
2022
In his seminal paper on the solution of the infiltration equation, Philip (1969), https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-1-4831-9936-8.50010-6 proposed a gravity time, tgrav, to estimate practical convergence time and the time domain validity of his infinite time series expansion, TSE, for describing the transient state. The parameter tgrav refers to a point in time where infiltration is dominated equally by capillarity and gravity as derived from the first two (dominant) terms of the TSE. Evidence suggests that applicability of the truncated two-term equation of Philip has a time limit requiring higher-order TSE terms to better describe the infiltration process for times exceeding that limit. Since …
Bank Erosion and Secondary Circulation in a Meandering Laboratory Flume
2014
Abstract This paper reports peculiar results of experimental investigation on the secondary circulation motion of flow along a meander wave. Experiments were conducted in a large amplitude meandering laboratory channel for two values of the width-to-depth ratio. Here attention is focalized on how secondary motion affects the bank shear stress distribution, influencing the stability of the outer bank. The analysis essentially highlights that, especially for small width-to-depth ratio, as the channel curvature increases, besides the classical central-region secondary circulation cell a counter-rotating circulation cell forms in the outer-bank region. Such counter-rotating circulation cell all…
A regional approach for exploring the relation between sediment transport and coastal erosion in Sicily
2022
To study on a regional basis, the relation between fluvial sediment delivery and coastal erosion, the historical record of coastline migration of Sicily was analyzed with respect to the estimated sediment delivery to the coast obtained from the spatially distributed sediment delivery WaTEM/SEDEM model. The latter was directly acquired from the ESDAC database as a 25 m pixel layers, being based on the combination between the RUSLE model and a transport capacity routing algorithm. At the same time, the coastline-evolution (accretion/retreatment) data for 1960/1994 and 1994/2012 intervals were processed. This dataset, provided by ISPRA (Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Resear…
Long-term erosional responses after fire in the Central Spanish Pyrenees
2005
Abstract This paper reports the results of a study on how fire effects water and sediment losses in the Central Spanish Pyrenees where land abandonment results in an increase of the scrubland and fire-affected surfaces. In 1991, two plots (control and burnt) were installed to collect runoff, suspended sediments and solutes. One of the plots was burnt (burnt-1) and the other was covered by shrubs and herbs (control). During 1993, another burnt plot was installed (burnt-2). Data was collected from the three plots until 1999 and is used as the basis for assessing the soil erosion changes after the fire. Runoff, solute and suspended sediment concentration and erosion rates were slightly greater…
Assessing changes in rainfall erosivity in Sicily during the twentieth century
2007
Changes in rainfall erosivity are an expected consequence of climate change. Long-term series of the single storm erosion index, EI, may be analysed to detect trends in rainfall erosivity. An indirect approach has to be applied for estimating EI, given that long series of rainfall intensities are seldom available. In this paper, a method for estimating EI from the corresponding rainfall amount, he, was developed for Sicily. This method was then applied at 17 Sicilian locations, representative of different climatic zones of the region, to generate a long series (i.e. from 1916 to 1999 in most cases) of EI values. Linear and step (step located at 1970) trends in annual and seasonal erosivity …
Towards More Efficient Incentives for Agri-environment Measures in Degraded and Eroded Vineyards
2015
Evaluating the economic damage caused by soil erosion is important. In addition to increasing the awareness of the problem among farmers and policy makers, evaluation of the economic damage caused by erosion can promote the implementation of more sustainable soil management practices. In the present study, we describe a new approach to evaluate incentives for the adoption of agri-environment measure (AEM) in degraded and eroded vineyards. To estimate this incentive, the replacement cost (RC) and the loss of income are calculated when the vineyard is managed with conventional tillage versus a cover crop (AEM). Our findings show that the incentive could range from the loss of income due to AE…
Morphological characteristics of ephemeral gullies in Sicily, south Italy
2011
Ephemeral gullies (EGs) are channels of different sizes refilled by tillage equipment normally used on farms. In this paper, the data-set collected from 1995 to 2007 in a wheat-cultivated area in Raddusa (Sicily, Italy), having a surface of almost 80 ha, were used to analyze the morphological characteristics of EGs. The measurements show an high temporal variability in EG characteristics. The EG measurements and the rill erosion measurements carried out in 15 plots located in the experimental “Sparacia” area (Sicily), demonstrated that a morphological similarity condition exists between rills and ephemeral gullies. The occurrence of step-pool structures in an EG occurring in the observation…