RESEARCH ARTICLE Effect of soil moisture on soil disintegration characteristics of different weathering profiles of collapsing gully in the hilly granitic region, South China Dong Xia1☯, Bingqin Zhao2☯, Daxiang Liu2, Yusong Deng3, Hu Cheng1, Yujie Yan1, Shuwen Ding3, Chongfa Cai3* a1111111111 1 Engineering Research Center of Eco-environment in Three Gorges Reservoir Region, Ministry of Education, College of hydraulic and environmental engineering, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, a1111111111 China, 2 College of Civil Engineering and Architecture, China Three Gorges University, Yichang, China, a1111111111 3 College of Resources and Environment, Huazhong Agricultural University, Wuhan, China a1111111111 a1111111111 ☯ These authors contributed equally to this work. *
[email protected] Abstract OPEN ACCESS Citation: Xia D, Zhao B, Liu D, Deng Y, Cheng H, Collapsing gully erosion is the main important and specific soil erosion type in the red soil Yan Y, et al. (2018) Effect of soil moisture on soil region of tropical and subtropical South China. Knowledge of the soil disintegration charac- disintegration characteristics of different teristics within different weathering profiles (surface layer, red soil layer, sandy soil layer and weathering profiles of collapsing gully in the hilly detritus layer) and its relationships with soil particle size distribution and soil properties is granitic region, South China. PLoS ONE 13(12): e0209427. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal. important in understanding the mechanism of the forming process and development of the pone.0209427 collapsing gully. In this paper, we conducted an experiment on four collapsing gullies located Editor: Jorge Paz-Ferreiro, RMIT University, four counties (Tongcheng County, Gan County, Anxi County and Wuhua County) in the hilly AUSTRALIA granitic region of southern China.