Journal
SUSTAINABILITY
Volume 13, Issue 1, Pages -Publisher
MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/su13010014
Keywords
embankment; rainfall; infiltration; temperature; vegetation cover; monitoring
Funding
- national researchs project called Slope mass-wasting under climate change (SMuCPhy) - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain [BIA 2015-67500-R]
- national researchs project called Multiscale analysis of soil erosion in steep slopes (EROSLOP) - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain [PID2019-104266RB-I00]
- AEI/FEDER, UE
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The stability and erosion of slopes are influenced by soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions and thermo-hydro-mechanical slope conditions. Vegetation can enhance rainfall infiltration, decrease runoff, and reduce slope instability and surficial erosion. Additionally, vegetation can reduce solar radiation, heat flux, temperature fluctuations, and evaporation.
The stability and erosion of natural and man-made slopes is influenced by soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions and the thermo-hydro-mechanical slope conditions. Understanding such interactions at the source of slope mass-wasting is important to develop land-use planning strategy and to promote environmentally adapted mitigation strategies, such as the use of vegetation to stabilize slopes and control erosion. Monitoring is essential for calibrating and validating models and for better comprehending the physical mechanisms of soil-vegetation-atmosphere interactions. We approached this complex problem by means of an experimental work in a full-scale monitored embankment, which is divided into four instrumented partitions. These partitions are North or South-faced and present a bare and vegetation cover at each orientation. Our main findings show that vegetation enhances rainfall infiltration and decreases runoff, which reduces slope stability and surficial erosion, while plant transpiration induces higher suctions and hence slope stability. Concerning thermal aspects, vegetation reduces the incidence of net solar radiation and consequently heat flux. Thus, daily temperature fluctuations and evaporation decreases. However, the effect of vegetation in the development of dryer soil conditions is more significant than the orientation effect, presenting higher drying rates and states at the North-vegetated slope compared to the South-bare slope.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available