Physical Modelling of Hydraulic Erosion Rates on Loess Slopes

• Main Authors: Deng, Y.-H (Author), Li, J. (Author), Li, X.-A (Author), Wen, F. (Author), Zheng, H. (Author)
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: Dry density; Erosion; erosion rate; Erosion rates; initial dry density; Initial dry density; initial moisture content; Initial Moisture Content; loess slope; Loess slopes; physical modelling; Physical modelling; Physical simulation; Sediments; Slope erosion; Soil erosion; Soils; water erosion; Water erosion
• Online Access: View Fulltext in Publisher

 Soil erosion is a major environmental problem of global concern. In the Loess Plateau region of China, erosion of loess slopes is one of the major modes of soil erosion, causing serious erosional problems. Most current studies of loess slope erosion use qualitative analyses from field investigations, while quantitative analyses from experimental physical simulations are relatively rare. This paper takes slope erosion, which is the most typical mode of loess erosion, as the starting point and investigates the hydraulic erosion process for different initial states using small-scale physical simulations. The slope erosion process can be generalised into two stages: rapid erosion, and slow and uniform erosion. Results of the physical simulations suggested that the initial dry density is negatively correlated with the erosion rate, but the initial water content is positively correlated with the erosion rate. The results of the study are not only of practical significance for the prevention and control of soil erosion on loess slopes, but also of theoretical significance, as they reveal the development of slope gully erosion. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article.