EGU21-13725
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13725
EGU General Assembly 2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

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

Tian Wang, Peng Li, Jingming Hou, Zhanbin Li, Shengdong Cheng, and Feng Wang
Tian Wang et al.
  • State Key Laboratory of Eco-Hydraulics in Northwest Arid Region of China, Xi’an University of Technology, Xi’ an 710048, Shaanxi, China (wthuanjing@163.com)

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.

How to cite: Wang, T., Li, P., Hou, J., Li, Z., Cheng, S., and Wang, F.: Investagation of the sediment connectivity under freeze-thaw meltwater compound erosion condition on loessal slope, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19–30 Apr 2021, EGU21-13725, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu21-13725, 2021.

Corresponding displays formerly uploaded have been withdrawn.