Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies
Gully erosion is one of the most important forms of land degradation in many regions of the world. Understanding the process of gully erosion therefore is important for better management of the watersheds prone to gully erosion. However, many different aspects of gully erosion, like hydrological beh...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
KeAi Communications Co., Ltd.
2020-03-01
|
| Series: | International Soil and Water Conservation Research |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095633919301947 |
| _version_ | 1797283622614466560 |
|---|---|
| author | Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi Gholam Ali Ghaffari Abdulsaleh Rangavar Zeinab Hazbavi Vijay P. Singh |
| author_facet | Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi Gholam Ali Ghaffari Abdulsaleh Rangavar Zeinab Hazbavi Vijay P. Singh |
| author_sort | Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gully erosion is one of the most important forms of land degradation in many regions of the world. Understanding the process of gully erosion therefore is important for better management of the watersheds prone to gully erosion. However, many different aspects of gully erosion, like hydrological behavior, are still not fully understood. The present study investigates the spatial distribution of soil moisture content (SMC), as one of the hydrological factors, at different depths and points across the cross section in the vicinity of the headcut of three gullies located in the Kalat County, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. SMCs were measured at depths of 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 and 100 cm at each seven points across the study cross sections one to three days after occurrence of three rain events. Two sampling points were symmetrically located at a distance of 50 cm outside the gully banks, two at the vertex of the sidewalls, two in the middle of the sidewalls and one at the center of gully cross section. SMCs were measured using a weighted method. Results of the study revealed a broad range of changes in SMCs at various depths and points. The minimum and maximum SMCs were found to be about 2% and 38%, respectively, for the study period and gullies under consideration. The coefficient of variation (CV) had drastic changes for various gullies and storm events from 2 to 107%. Results further indicated that SMC moved from the sidewalls towards the floor of the cross section. Accordingly, the maximum SMC for storm events was associated with the point located in the center of gullies, which indicated the role of gully system in draining soil moisture. The findings of this study will help watershed managers understand the important role of gully facies in changing water content of the soil that affects other ecohydrological processes. Keywords: Soil moisture capacity, Soil water, Subsurface runoff, Water erosion |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:33:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8c0c41ec56d45f498d08778f63bac8c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2095-6339 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T17:33:21Z |
| publishDate | 2020-03-01 |
| publisher | KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | International Soil and Water Conservation Research |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8c0c41ec56d45f498d08778f63bac8c2024-03-02T17:24:27ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.International Soil and Water Conservation Research2095-63392020-03-01811525Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully faciesSeyed Hamidreza Sadeghi0Gholam Ali Ghaffari1Abdulsaleh Rangavar2Zeinab Hazbavi3Vijay P. Singh4Department of Watershed Management Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, Member of Agrohydrology Group, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, 4641776489, Mazandaran Province, Iran; Corresponding author.Department of Watershed Management Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources and Marine Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor, 46417-76489, IranScientific Member of Khorasan Razavi Research Centre for Agriculture and Natural Resources, Mashhad, IranWatershed Management Sciences and Engineering, Department of Watershed Management Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, IranDepartment of Watershed Management Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor 4641776489, Mazandaran Province, Iran; Distinguished Professor and Carline & William N. Lehrer Distinguished Chair in Water Engineering, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering & Zachry Department of Civil, Engineering, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2117, USAGully erosion is one of the most important forms of land degradation in many regions of the world. Understanding the process of gully erosion therefore is important for better management of the watersheds prone to gully erosion. However, many different aspects of gully erosion, like hydrological behavior, are still not fully understood. The present study investigates the spatial distribution of soil moisture content (SMC), as one of the hydrological factors, at different depths and points across the cross section in the vicinity of the headcut of three gullies located in the Kalat County, Khorasan Razavi Province, Iran. SMCs were measured at depths of 10, 20, 30, 50, 70 and 100 cm at each seven points across the study cross sections one to three days after occurrence of three rain events. Two sampling points were symmetrically located at a distance of 50 cm outside the gully banks, two at the vertex of the sidewalls, two in the middle of the sidewalls and one at the center of gully cross section. SMCs were measured using a weighted method. Results of the study revealed a broad range of changes in SMCs at various depths and points. The minimum and maximum SMCs were found to be about 2% and 38%, respectively, for the study period and gullies under consideration. The coefficient of variation (CV) had drastic changes for various gullies and storm events from 2 to 107%. Results further indicated that SMC moved from the sidewalls towards the floor of the cross section. Accordingly, the maximum SMC for storm events was associated with the point located in the center of gullies, which indicated the role of gully system in draining soil moisture. The findings of this study will help watershed managers understand the important role of gully facies in changing water content of the soil that affects other ecohydrological processes. Keywords: Soil moisture capacity, Soil water, Subsurface runoff, Water erosionhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095633919301947 |
| spellingShingle | Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghi Gholam Ali Ghaffari Abdulsaleh Rangavar Zeinab Hazbavi Vijay P. Singh Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies International Soil and Water Conservation Research |
| title | Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| title_full | Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| title_fullStr | Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| title_full_unstemmed | Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| title_short | Spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| title_sort | spatiotemporal distribution of soil moisture in gully facies |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2095633919301947 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT seyedhamidrezasadeghi spatiotemporaldistributionofsoilmoistureingullyfacies AT gholamalighaffari spatiotemporaldistributionofsoilmoistureingullyfacies AT abdulsalehrangavar spatiotemporaldistributionofsoilmoistureingullyfacies AT zeinabhazbavi spatiotemporaldistributionofsoilmoistureingullyfacies AT vijaypsingh spatiotemporaldistributionofsoilmoistureingullyfacies |