Collaborative Research: Pattern Emergence and Resilience of Rill Networks and Their Relation to Soil Loss, Landscape Degradation, and Erosion Prediction Technology

土壤侵蚀仍然是世界范围内土壤退化的主要原因，土壤流失仍然是农业资源可持续管理的一个关键问题。此外，陆源的场外沉积严重影响水质和生态。剧烈、局部侵蚀的地区，如小沟和沟壑，往往是土壤流失的主要原因，也是从这些景观中流失的沉积物的主要来源。这一合作研究项目将研究由水渠开发引起的土壤侵蚀和景观退化的基本机制。研究人员还将在实验室和自然条件下分析这些系统的基本地形组织和演变。该项目将加强对土壤侵蚀和景观退化的基本机制以及基本地形组织的基本了解。该项目将增加对地质格局和地表水排水网络在不同时间和空间尺度上的形成、发展和演变的认识和理解。该项目将提高在任何侵蚀发生之前预测土壤流失的能力，这将有助于改善流域和农业管理工具，从而减少美国和其他地方土壤资源的进一步退化。该项目还将为研究生和本科生提供特殊教育和培训机会。该项目将结合实验室、分析和实地调查，重点研究土壤覆盖景观中细沟网络的出现、演变和弹性。研究人员假设，细沟网络在山坡上表现出快速的模式出现特征和长期的弹性，并且这些细沟的位置、组织和尺寸可以在任何侵蚀发生之前预测。将进行全面的土壤侵蚀实验，在此过程中，地形分析将与最先进的物理模型和土壤侵蚀过程的分析公式相结合。然后，在实验景观中开发的理论框架和地形分析工具将应用于实地实验，在实地实验中，将创建侵蚀地块来复制室内实验并随着时间的推移进行监测。

Soil erosion remains the principal cause of soil degradation worldwide, and soil loss continues to be a critical concern for the sustainable management of agricultural resources. Furthermore, off-site sedimentation from upland sources severely affects water quality and ecology. Areas of intense, localized erosion, such as rills and gullies, often are the primary cause of soil loss and are the dominant source of sediment removed from these landscapes. This collaborative research project will examine the fundamental mechanics of soil erosion and landscape degradation by rill development. The investigators also will analyze the fundamental topographic organization and evolution of these systems under laboratory and natural conditions. The project will enhance basic understanding of the fundamental mechanics of soil erosion and landscape degradation by rill development as well as the fundamental topographic organization. The project will increase the recognition and understanding of geopatterns and the initiation, development, and evolution of surface water drainage networks at various time and space scales. The project will improve capabilities for predicting soil loss before any erosion takes place, which will help improve watershed and agricultural-management tools, thereby reducing the further degradation of soil resources in the U.S. and elsewhere. The project also will provide special education and training opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students.The project will combine laboratory, analytic, and field investigation to focus on the emergence, evolution, and resiliency of rill networks on soil-mantled landscapes at the field-plot scale. The investigators hypothesize that rill networks display rapid pattern-emergent characteristics and long-term resiliency on hillslopes and that the location, organization, and dimensions of these rills can be predicted before any erosion takes place. Full-scale soil erosion experiments will be conducted during which terrain analysis will be combined with state-of-the-art physical models and analytical formulations for soil erosion processes. The theoretical framework and terrain analysis tools developed in the experimental landscape then will be applied to a field experiment, where erosion plots will be created to replicate the in-house experiments and monitored over time.