The Role of Physicochemical Characteristics of Gully Soil and Environmental Factors of its Upper-Catchment Area in the Expansion of Gully Erosion

In this research, a regression model was introduced to study the mechanisms of the formation of gullies in the Quri Chay watershed, northern Ardebil province (Moghan Plain); this was done through investigating the effective factors of geo-environment and soil characteristics on the gully erosion. For this purpose, 17 gullies were randomly assigned through field surveys. Mapping and recording the morphometric of the selected gullies were performed by GPS positioning after seven rainfall events. The catchment-upper area of each gully was determined and its related physical parameters were calculated in order to investigate the effect of the physical characteristics of the catchment. Soil sampling was also done at the head of each gully at two different depths (30-30 and 60-30 cm) in order to determine the physical and chemical characteristics of the soil. According to measurement of the morphometric characteristics of the gully and soil characteristics through multivariate analysis of the data, a suitable regression model was developed for the longitudinal development of erosion after determining and calculating environmental factors related to the upper catchment of the gullies. The results of the correlation matrix between the longitudinal extension of the gully and the factors investigated indicated that the factors related to the physical characteristics of the beside watershed (area, perimeter, main stream length and average width of the catchment, main stream slope), gully morphometric characteristics (mean of gully cross section, the gully expansion area, and the gully average width) and soil characteristics (geometric mean of the aggregates diameter, lime, organic matter percentage) affected the formation and expansion of gully erosion in the Quri chay catchment. The results of regression analysis showed that the longitudinal expansion of the gully was mostly influenced by the area around each gully and the percentage of organic matter, which resulted in pressure on the rangeland and the loss of vegetation, which increased runoff and accelerated the lengthwise expansion of the gully. Also, the increase in the area of the beside catchment the gullies is known as one of the factors influencing the length of the gully, due to the high volume of runoff entering the head cut section; so it is necessary to manage runoff in the gully with the large beside catchment.