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Experimental Erosion pp 169–189Cite as

Detecting Fingerprints of Gravity Erosion Drivers: A Laboratory Experiment

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Abstract

The morphology of the failure scar has been a long-debated issue concerning the Loess Plateau of China, and the lack of normative data has hampered vital research in this area. In this chapter, a series of laboratory experiments were conducted to observe the failure geometries and volumes under rainfall simulations. The following six failure-scar types occurred: Tf, Cd, Cu, Ia, Ps, and Co. Tf, Cd, and Cu were the three major types of failure scars during the process of gravity erosion on a steep loess slope, and the scar Tf was the most significant. A relatively dangerous failure scar (Tf) might appear if the slope became steeper, or if the rainfall became more intensive. In addition, a long-duration storm could easily induce a large-volume failure with a Cu scar. The experimental results obtained here provide a morphogenic insight into the gravity-erosion control on a loess gully sidewall.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

    Xiangzhou Xu

  2. Department of Geography, Urban, Environment and Sustainability Studies, University of Minnesota Duluth, Duluth, MN, USA

    Tongxin Zhu

  3. State Key Laboratory of Hydroscience and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Hongwu Zhang

  4. School of Hydraulic Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, China

    Lu Gao

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  1. Xiangzhou Xu
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  2. Tongxin Zhu
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  3. Hongwu Zhang
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  4. Lu Gao
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Xu, X., Zhu, T., Zhang, H., Gao, L. (2020). Detecting Fingerprints of Gravity Erosion Drivers: A Laboratory Experiment. In: Experimental Erosion. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-3801-8_11

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