Aerial Assessment of Ephemeral Gully Erosion from Agricultural Regions in the Pacific Northwest
Publication: Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 6
Abstract
Soil erosion from agricultural areas continues to be problematic in terms of both financial and environmental measures. Ephemeral gullies contribute to the soil loss both by the volume of sediment eroded from the gullies and because they act as delivery channels for surface erosion. High resolution aerial imagery was used to quantify the amounts and locations of ephemeral gullies in the subbasins of the Potlatch River system. Areal ephemeral gully erosion rates varied from (0.15 U.S. t/acre) in the Big Bear Creek Subbasin to (0.39 U.S. t/acre) in the Middle Potlatch Creek Subbasin representing 2.3–7.7% of the total surface sediment load. An erosion potential index was proposed to assist resource managers predict gully locations at the watershed scale using readily available remote sensing and geographic information system layers.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality for funding this research as well as undergraduate student workers Danny Ochoa and Ryan Morison for their assistance in digitizing images.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 6 • December 2008
Pages: 807 - 814
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 1, 2005
Accepted: Jan 2, 2008
Published online: Dec 1, 2008
Published in print: Dec 2008
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