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| Titel |
Piping dynamics in mid-altitude mountains under a temperate climate: the Bieszczady Mts., the Eastern Carpathians |
| VerfasserIn |
Anita Bernatek-Jakiel, Michał Jakiel, Kazimierz Krzemień |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2017
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 19 (2017) |
| Datensatznummer |
250137400
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2017-94.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Soil erosion is caused not only by overland flow, but also by subsurface flow. Piping which
is a process of mechanical removal of soil particles by concentrated subsurface
flow is frequently being overlooked and not accounted for in soil erosion studies.
However, it seems that it is far more widespread than it has often been supposed.
Furthermore, our knowledge about piping dynamics and its quantification currently
relies on a limited number of data available for mainly loess-mantled areas and marl
badlands.
Therefore, this research aims to recognize piping dynamics in mid-altitude mountains
under a temperate climate, where piping occurs in Cambisols, not previously considered as
piping-prone soils. The survey was carried out in the Bereźnica Wyżna catchment (305 ha),
in the Bieszczady Mts. (the Eastern Carpathians, Poland), where 188 collapsed pipes were
mapped. The research was based on the monitoring of selected piping systems located within
grasslands (1971-1974, 2013-2016).
The development of piping systems is mainly induced by the elongation of pipes and
creation of new collapses (closed depressions and sinkholes), rather than by the enlargement
of existing piping forms, or the deepening of pipes. It draws attention to the role of dense
vegetation (grasslands) in the delay of pipe collapses and, also, to the boundary of pipe
development (soil–bedrock interface). The obtained results reveal an episodic, and even
stochastic nature of piping activity, expressed by varied one-year and short-term (3 years)
erosion rates, and pipe elongation. Changes in soil loss vary significantly between different
years (up to 27.36 t ha−1 y−1), reaching the rate of 1.34 t ha−1 y−1 for the 45-year study
period. The elongation of pipes also differs, from no changes to 36 m during one
year.
The results indicate that soil loss due to piping can cause high soil loss even in highly
vegetated lands (grasslands), which are generally considered as areas without a significant
erosion problem. The scale of piping in the study area is at least by three orders of magnitude
higher than surface erosion rates (i.e. sheet and rill erosion) under a similar land use
(grasslands), and it is comparable to the scale of surface soil erosion on arable
lands. It means that piping is an important sediment source for fluvial systems,
and it leads to significant soil loss in mid-altitude mountains under a temperate
climate.
This study is supported by the National Science Centre of Poland, as a part of the first
author’s project – PRELUDIUM 3 (DEC-2012/05/N/ST10/03926). The first author was also
granted the ETIUDA 3 doctoral scholarship (UMO-2015/16/T/ST10/00505) financed by the
National Science Centre of Poland. |
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