Structure of areal erosion in natural-anthropogenic landscapes of drainage basins

Abstract

Four zones of erosion are distinguished from the water divide downslope, differing in the character of the surface runoff and water volume; those are zones of splash erosion, incipient microrills, rills and gullies. They form together the structure of the surface erosion within a drainage basin. Studies of 300 river basins in Tatarstan provided data on characteristics of the zones of erosion and their dynamics, both long-term and seasonal. The type of erosion and percentage of each zone area within the basin are shown to depend on the cultivation degree, slopes' steepness and exposure, and rocks lithology.