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Effects of gravel on infiltration, runoff, and sediment yield in landslide deposit slope in Wenchuan earthquake area, China

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Abstract

Amounts of landslide deposits were triggered by the Wenchuan earthquake with magnitude 8.0 on May 12, 2008. The landslide deposits were composed of soil and rock fragments, which play important roles in hydrological and erosion processes in the steep slope of landslide deposits. The mixtures of soil and gravels are common in the top layers of landslide deposits, and its processes are obviously different with the soil without gravels. Based on the data of field investigation, a series of simulated scouring flow experiments with four proportion of gravel (0, 25, 33.3, and 50 %) and three scouring flow rates (4, 8, 12 L/min) under two steep slopes (67.5, 72.7 %) were conducted sequentially to know the effects of proportion of gravel on infiltration capacity, runoff generation, and sediment production in the steep slope of landslide deposit. Results indicated that gravel had promoted or reduced effects on infiltration capacity which could affect further the cumulative runoff volume and cumulative sediment mass increase or decrease. The cumulative infiltration volume in 25 % proportion of gravel was less than those in 0, 33.3, and 50 % proportion of gravel. The cumulative runoff volume was in an order of 25 > 0 > 33.3 > 50 % while cumulative sediment mass ranked as 25 > 33.3 > 0 > 50 % with different proportions of gravel. A significant power relationship was found between scouring time and cumulative runoff volume as well as cumulative sediment mass. The relationship between average soil and water loss rate and proportion of gravel was able to express by quadratic function, with a high degree of reliability. The results have important implications for soil and water conservation and modeling in landslide deposit but also provide useful information for the similar conditions.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41271291). The authors are grateful to the postgraduates named Wang Tao, Yao Yun, He Xiaorong, and Guo Xiaomeng for their assistance during the part of field work and laboratory work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Resources and Environment, Southwest University, Beibei District, Chongqing, 400715, China

    Tianyang Li, Binghui He, Zhanpeng Chen & Renxin Wang

  2. College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan, 610065, China

    Tianyang Li & Chuan Liang

  3. School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Yi Zhang

Authors
  1. Tianyang Li
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  2. Binghui He
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  3. Zhanpeng Chen
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  4. Yi Zhang
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  5. Chuan Liang
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  6. Renxin Wang
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Correspondence to Binghui He.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Li, T., He, B., Chen, Z. et al. Effects of gravel on infiltration, runoff, and sediment yield in landslide deposit slope in Wenchuan earthquake area, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 12075–12084 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6394-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6394-x

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