Characteristics of actively eroding ephemeral gullies in an experimental channel

The formation of ephemeral gullies can significantly increase soil losses from agricultural lands and severely impact farm productivity, yet few data exist on the physical characteristics of actively eroding gullies. The objectives of the current study were to examine the time variation of gully morphology and sediment load in response to a range of overland flow discharges and the impact of soil moisture content and soil density on erosion rates. Preformed ephemeral gullies were constructed at field scale in a large experimental channel using the same cohesive soil but at two different moisture contents and bulk densities. For the bed with relatively high soil moisture content and bulk density, clear-water flows caused low rates of erosion, detachment-limited flows prevailed, and bed degradation was uniform along the flume. For the bed with relatively low soil moisture content and bulk density, comparable clear-water flows caused high rates of erosion, both detachment-limited and transport-limited flows prevailed, and bed degradation was greater in the upstream reaches. In both experiments, erosion caused the gullies to incise, to significantly increase gully bottom width, and to steepen gully sidewalls. These results compare favorably with field studies of ephemeral gullies, and the hydraulics and sediment transport processes observed are similar to those reported for actively eroding rills.