Effect of rainfall gradient and vegetation restoration on gully initiation under a large-scale extreme rainfall event on the hilly Loess Plateau: A case study from the Wuding River basin, China.

As the most serious form of soil erosion, gully erosion can be triggered by individual high-intensity rainfall events. In this study, a total of 369 small catchments in 24 sites were sampled to investigate the relationship between rainfall and gully erosion on hillslopes and to study the impacts of vegetation restoration following heavy rainstorms in the central Loess Plateau, China. A total of 280 newly formed gullies on hillslopes were identified by comparing pre-storm Google Earth images and post-storm unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images.