IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i8p2909-d164091.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Assessment of the Sustainability of the Territories Affected by Gully Head Advancements through Aerial Photography and Modeling Estimations: A Case Study on Samal Watershed, Iran

Author

Listed:
  • Aliakbar Nazari Samani

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, P.O. Box: 31585-4314, Iran)

  • Fatemeh Tavakoli Rad

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, P.O. Box: 31585-4314, Iran)

  • Maryam Azarakhshi

    (Faulty of Agriculture & Natural Resource, University of Torbat Heydarieh, Torbat Heydarieh, P.O. Box: 9516168595, Iran)

  • Mohammad Reza Rahdari

    (Faculty of Natural Resources, University of Tehran, Karaj, P.O. Box: 31585-4314, Iran)

  • Jesús Rodrigo-Comino

    (Instituto de Geomorfología y Suelos, Department of Geography, University of, Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain
    Department of Physical Geography, University of Trier, 54296 Trier, Germany)

Abstract

Gully erosion is considered one of the major issues of land sustainability because it can remove considerable volumes of sediment and productive soils. Once started, gullies can continue to move by headcut retreat, or slumping of the side walls. Studies of gully development require constant monitoring activities which are not possible in not-well-explored areas, such as the arduous region of Iran, due to costs and a lack of geoinformation. Thus, the present research attempts to assess gully evolution using only two digital aerial photographs of different periods (1968 and 1994) and field assessment (2009) to estimate the gully head advancement based on frames geometry and rigorous procedure in southwestern Iran. Also, the gully head advancement was estimated and compared among them by different empirical equations. The results indicated that the mean of gully head advancement was 1.4 m year −1 and 1.2 m year −1 during 1968–1994 and 1994–2009, respectively, and the annual average of sediment mobilization was 26.8 m 3 ha −1 in 2009. The model assessment indexes indicated that SCS (Soil Conservation Service) II was the best model for gully head advancement estimations in this study area. The main reasons for this can be associated with the R p factor (previous gully head advancement) and the local environmental conditions. We conclude that the sustainability of the territory has been greatly affected due to this advancement. We also hypothesize that gully head changes could be related to the susceptibility of geological formations, climate, soil properties, and the coincidence of other gullies’ formation with common drainage networks in the study area. Based on the obtained results, land managers can use the results to distinguish the gullies in this region with a higher environmental risk, and to decide an effective implementation of soil conservation measures in order to include them in the land management plans.

Suggested Citation

  • Aliakbar Nazari Samani & Fatemeh Tavakoli Rad & Maryam Azarakhshi & Mohammad Reza Rahdari & Jesús Rodrigo-Comino, 2018. "Assessment of the Sustainability of the Territories Affected by Gully Head Advancements through Aerial Photography and Modeling Estimations: A Case Study on Samal Watershed, Iran," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2909-:d:164091
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2909/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/8/2909/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ramita Manandhar & Inakwu O. A. Odeh, 2014. "Interrelationships of Land Use/Cover Change and Topography with Soil Acidity and Salinity as Indicators of Land Degradation," Land, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Aliakbar Nazari Samani & Hassan Ahmadi & Aliasghar Mohammadi & Jamal Ghoddousi & Ali Salajegheh & Guy Boggs & Razieh Pishyar, 2010. "Factors Controlling Gully Advancement and Models Evaluation (Hableh Rood Basin, Iran)," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(8), pages 1531-1549, June.
    3. Reza Zakerinejad & Michael Maerker, 2015. "An integrated assessment of soil erosion dynamics with special emphasis on gully erosion in the Mazayjan basin, southwestern Iran," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 79(1), pages 25-50, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Omid Rahmati & Ali Haghizadeh & Hamid Reza Pourghasemi & Farhad Noormohamadi, 2016. "Gully erosion susceptibility mapping: the role of GIS-based bivariate statistical models and their comparison," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 82(2), pages 1231-1258, June.
    2. Gezahegn Weldu Woldemariam & Anteneh Derribew Iguala & Solomon Tekalign & Ramireddy Uttama Reddy, 2018. "Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia," Land, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-25, February.
    3. Yun Bai & Mingming Guo & Hongliang Kang & Wenlong Wang & Huan Su & Wenzhao Guo & Chunyan Ma, 2021. "Morphodynamics of Gully Development on the Platform–Slope System of Spoil Dumps under Platform Concentrated Flow," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Sumedh R. Kashiwar & Manik Chandra Kundu & Usha R. Dongarwar, 2022. "Soil erosion estimation of Bhandara region of Maharashtra, India, by integrated use of RUSLE, remote sensing, and GIS," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 110(2), pages 937-959, January.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:8:p:2909-:d:164091. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.