Intensity Assessment of Erosion-Accumulative Processes in the Selenga Middle Mountains (Case Study of the Gully Network of the Nizhnyaya Bulanka Depression, Western Transbaikalia)

Abstract

The advantages of a quantitative assessment of the spatial and temporal variability of the boundaries and volumes of ravines using modern means and methods of aerial photography from an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) are substantiated, in contrast to traditional survey methods (linear method of benchmarks, tacheometric, aerial and space photography, laser scanning). The erosion zoning and mapping of linear and gully formations on the territory of the Kuitunka, Tarbagataika, and Kunaleika river basins (Selenga middle mountains) are carried out. The reanalysis data were used to assess extreme meteorological events leading to the acceleration of erosion processes. Paleontological material confirms the long duration of erosive-accumulative processes in the Nizhnyaya Bulanka depression. High-accuracy multi-temporal orthophotomaps and digital elevation models of Bulanka gully using unmanned aerial vehicles were produced. The method of quantitative estimation of gully formation rates is offered, which allows estimating with high accuracy the change of area and volume characteristics of erosive forms.

Keywords

• Selenga middle mountains
• water erosion
• soil organic matter
• anthropogenic impact
• gully
• unmanned aerial vehicle