Project Number: 6408-13000-018-07
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 01, 2003
End Date: Jul 31, 2008

Objective:
Assess the processes of rill and ephemeral gully development, their evolution, and their effects on soil loss, soil degradation, and agricultural resources and productivity across a range of temporal and spatial scales and management practices. Gully erosion represents an important, if not the dominant, sediment source within watersheds in the U.S. and worldwide.

Approach:
Develop and execute novel experimental programs to understand the processes leading to the initial growth and development of rills and gullies under varying hydrologic and topographic conditions. Define the key pedologic, hydrologic, and hydrodynamic parameters that control the magnitude, morphology, and rate of soil loss, gully erosion, and landscape degradation due to gully development. Develop theory and equations to predict soil loss and gully erosion on hillslopes and agricultural fields under different management practices and integrate these into USDA watershed and soil erosion models.