Response of the Headcut Erosion Process to Flow Energy Variation in the Loess Gully Region of China

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The abstract describes a mundane study largely within existing knowledge. That PE in the catchment area is influenced by slope gradient is well-established. Ditto the influence of discharge. These are together what comprises stream power, which many gully head models use - so no surprise that this experiment found correlation with sediment yield.

A revised submission would need to clearly identify the established understanding it is built on and what new contribution to knowledge it makes. Potentially the absolute and relative energy consumption by the headcut is interesting if set in terms of data on gully headcut locations in a range of landscapes (eg from S/A papers). Why is discharge variation less influential? This could be explored.

Author Response

Dear reviewers,

We would like to express our sincere appreciation for your careful reading and helpful comments.

Those comments are valuable and helpful to improve our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our study. We have revised the manuscript carefully according to these valuable comments. Please see the attachment.

Thanks again.

Yours sincerely

Wenlong Wang

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Reviewer 2 Report

General Comments

Overall, it seems like an interesting study on gully erosion. Still, I see several shortcomings

1.      The intro could have some additional references

2.      In regard to the methods please clearly indicate how plot you had for each type slope etc. you had. Do you have any replications of plots with the same slope and discharge. Was the experiment repeated again?

3.      How representative, are you gully plots with the way you develop your soil profile. Wouldn’t ne more effective to take section of land to do these experiments in the field instead of the laboratory?

4.      Did you find any significant statistical differences? Please state them clearly

5.      In the discussion it seems that you just confirm what other scientists have found. Please showcase what were the unique finding of your study

6.      What is the practical meaning of your results? How can land managers use the results of your study?

Specific comments

INTRODUCTION

Relatively short (could add another paragraph) suggest adding the following reference:

Zaimes, G.N., Schultz, R.C. Assessing Riparian Conservation Land Management Practice Impacts on Gully Erosion in Iowa. Environmental Management 49, 1009–1021 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-012-9830-9

Wang, J., Zhong, L., Zhao, W. et al. The influence of rainfall and land use patterns on soil erosion in multi-scale watersheds: A case study in the hilly and gully area on the Loess Plateau, China. J. Geogr. Sci. 28, 1415–1426 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-018-1553-2

Li, C., Li, F., Dai, Z. et al. Spatial variation of gully development in the loess plateau of China based on the morphological perspective. Earth Sci Inform 13, 1103–1117 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-020-00491-4

Also would like some additional publications from the journal you are trying to publish in:

Gao, Z.; Zhang, G.; Fan, H.; Ji, Q.; Li, A.; Zhang, Y.; Feng, B.; Yu, Y.; Ma, L.; Gao, J. Erosion-Transportation Processes Influenced by Spatial Distribution of Terraces in Watershed in the Loess Hilly–Gully Region (LHGR), China. Water 2022, 14, 1875. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14121875

Guo, P.; Lyu, J.; Yuan, W.; Zhou, X.; Mo, S.; Mu, D.; Luo, P. Detecting the Quantitative Hydrological Response to Changes in Climate and Human Activities at Temporal and Spatial Scales in a Typical Gully Region of the Loess Plateau, China. Water 2022, 14, 257. https://doi.org/10.3390/w14020257

Zaimes, G.N.; Tufekcioglu, M.; Schultz, R.C. Riparian Land-Use Impacts on Stream Bank and Gully Erosion in Agricultural Watersheds: What We Have Learned. Water 2019, 11, 1343. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11071343

 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Study area no references?

Experimental design – Where was the soil taken from? How was it taken? Also, how many plots did you have from the 4 different slopes? Would like a table with characteristics of the 16 plots. Would the 90 cm be similar to a typical soil profile from watershed of interest? Finally, a little confused, was the experiment done in the field or was it done in a laboratory? Please explain better!

 

RESULTS

So many figures. This becomes tiresome for the readers. Were any of the differences significant. This should be highlighted. Why are the last figures in black and white and all the rest in color? A little unusual

 

DISCUSSION

So, what did you study bring in regard to gully processes this needs to be better highlighted in the discussion. It seems that you confirmed what other researchers have found in the past!

So, can results bring some information to land managers that will allow them for example to mitigate gully erosion with nature-based solutions?

 

CONCLUSION

Seems like you reiterating the discussion section.

Author Response

Dear reviewers

We would like to express our sincere appreciation for your careful reading and helpful comments.

Those comments are valuable and helpful to improve our paper, as well as the important guiding significance to our study. We have revised the manuscript carefully according to these valuable comments. Please contact us if you have any other suggestion. Please see the attachment.

Thanks again.

Yours sincerely

Wenlong Wang

Author Response File: Author Response.docx

Round 2

Reviewer 2 Report

Dear authors

Thank you for your explanations and corrections.

Still the paper cannot be published if you do bot address the following

Abstract: You state the significant finding. Where these statistically significant? Not clear!

Please check the references in the text and in the references detected mistakes

Figure 2. Please double check the photos they seem distorted.

You state that “A total of 108 experiments were conducted” Ok so many for each of the 4 plots?

Are the slopes representative of the area? You never clarify this?

So, you explain how you develop the plots? So, they were left in the field? Please provide photos? You have some but could be improved

How did you determine the discharge you tested? Are they typical of the region? 

Thank you for explaining the statistical methods. But were there significant correlations? This is the key point!

Author Response

Dear reviewers,

We would like to express our sincere appreciation for your careful reading and helpful comments. We have revised the manuscript carefully according to these valuable comments. Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.docx