Investagation of the sediment connectivity under freeze-thaw meltwater compound erosion condition on loessal slope

The connectivity of rill erosion and overland flow are significantly affected by freeze-thaw cycles. Meltwater concentrated flow laboratory experiments were carried out to assess the soil erosion connectivity of different frozen conditions based on simplified hydrological curve and relative surface connection function. The experiments were performed over frozen, shallow-thawed, and unfrozen soil-filled flumes under 1, 2, and 4 L/min flow rates with the temperature around 5 °C. The results imply that according to the spatial distribution of the high connected areas on the slope, the connectivity of the sediment structure on the slope is obviously enhanced with the increase of the flow rate. The order of the structural connectivity of the sediment on the slope with different freeze-thaw states under the same flow rate is: frozen slope > shallow-thawed slope > unfrozen slope. Under different flows and soil frozen conditions, the laws of the vertical and horizontal connectivity rates of the slope are relatively similar which increase first and then stabilize, while the horizontal connectivity rate first decreases and then stabilizes. From the perspective of horizontal connectivity, the erosion form at the beginning of the experiment was mainly surface erosion; as the experiment progressed, the erosion form gradually changed from surface erosion to rill erosion. The results of this research would provide specific implications about meltwater erosion connectivity for improving the erosion process understand.