Types of gullies and conditions of their development in silvicultural loess catchment (Szczebrzeszyn Roztocze region, SE Poland)

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to present a characteristic of loess permanent gullies, which form the branched erosion system, with the total length of almost 7.8 km, dissecting an erosion-denudation dry valley. Only 20%of the gully system catchment is cultivated as the result of steep slopes and considerable height differences up to 100 m. 80%of the catchment is covered by fir coniferous forest and Carpathian beech forest, and gully development is the result of intensive forest exploitation. Five types of gullies have been selected on the basis of the runoff directions, which are determined by the following: original relief, runoff concentration from fields, runoff concentration from fallplaces, skidding and course of forest roads used to carry a timber