Gully erosion, land uses, water and soil dynamics: a case study of Nazareno (Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Gully erosion is a critical issue worldwide. To correctly associate environmental data (as climate, soil, vegetation cover, topography, etc.) and soil erosion susceptibility with land uses remains a challenge in land management. We examine the returning soil removal of a reclaimed gully in Nazareno city, Minas Gerais’ state (Brazil), comparing field assessment with laboratory experiments using two types of soil (well-developed soil and granite-gneiss saprolite). Both of them showed that macroscopic behavior of soils is connected with microscopic characteristics. Well-developed soil is more erosion resistant than granite-gneiss saprolite, but the surrounding land uses do not respect these differences. These analyses have enabled to explain why this and other gullies in the municipality are apparently stabilized, but soil losses remain occurring. It is demonstrated that urban and rural expansion played the major role in triggering gullies and soil losses