A Multi-Criteria Framework for Identification of Gully Developmental Stages Based on UAV Data—A Case Study in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, SW China

Haimei Lin, Leichao Bai, Mingliang Luo, Zhicheng Wang, Dan Yang, Bin Zhang and Yebin Lin
Additional contact information
Haimei Lin: College of Life Science, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Leichao Bai: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Mingliang Luo: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Zhicheng Wang: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Dan Yang: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Bin Zhang: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China
Yebin Lin: School of Geographical Sciences, China West Normal University, Nanchong 637009, China

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 13, 1-19

Abstract: Gully erosion is a common form of soil erosion in dry-hot valleys, and it often brings serious land degradation. A multi-criteria method integrating the characteristics of the longitudinal profile (LP), the cross profile (CP) and the knickpoints of gullies was applied to identify the development stage of gullies in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, in southwestern China. Firstly, based on the high-resolution data sources produced by an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), 50 gullies were selected as the typical ones in Tutujiliangzi and Shadi village. The LPs were extracted, and their morphological indices, information entropy and fitting functions were calculated. The morphological characteristics of the CPs and the presence or absence of knickpoints were recorded. The results show that the period of the gullies in Tutujiliangzi and Shadi is dominated by the deep incision period and the equilibrium adjustment period, which means that most gullies are in the period of the severe erosion stage. Among the gullies, 13 LPs’ morphological index is between 0.636 and 0.933, and the morphology of the LP presents an upward convex shape; the cross profiles are mainly V-shaped and U-shaped. Thirty-two LPs’ morphological index is between 1.005~2.384, which presents a slightly concave shape; the cross profiles are mainly repeated U-shapes. The remaining five LPs have a morphological index of 0.592, 0.462, 1.061, 1.344 and 0.888, respectively; the LPs of upstream and downstream are different. The LPs of the Tutujiliangzi gullies are nearly straight lines and slightly concave, while those of the Shadi village gullies are convex and nearly straight lines. The knickpoints and step-pools in Shadi village are more developed, while the gullies in Tutujiliangzi develop more rapidly. This study shows that in counties with similar conditions, these conditions such as temperature and precipitation, local topographic changes, soil properties and vegetation conditions have obvious effects on the development of gullies.

Keywords: longitudinal profile; cross profile; gully erosion; gully developmental stage; multi-criteria decision analysis; dry-hot valley (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8202/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/13/8202/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:13:p:8202-:d:855874

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().