The Potential of Gully Erosion on the Yamal Peninsula, West Siberia

The Yamal Peninsula occupies the northern part of the West Siberian Plain in Russia. This territory has rapidly developed due to the exploitation of several gas fields. At the same time, the Yamal Peninsula is one of the most severely gullied landscapes in the Arctic. The potential risk of damage to the environment or structures and the cost of such damages are very high there. The erosion potential is the cumulative erosion by runoff above critical, calculated for each point at a catchment. Calculations take into account the geomorphic, lithological, and vegetation cover thresholds, realized in the form of critical runoff depth of erosion initiation. It also takes into account action of all flows between the critical and maximum runoff. The calculations for several gullied catchments on the Yamal Peninsula show the uneven distribution of erosion potential level with the maximum of gully erosion on the steep banks of the river valleys and on gully heads with bare soil. The area with potential erosion in these catchments varies within the range of 17–33%. The erosion on the Yamal Peninsula is mainly of natural origin. It occurs on steep slopes and at the heads of gullies. These landforms are not used for exploitation camps and settlements. Nevertheless, the linear structures, such as railways, roads and pipelines, can cross these unstable landforms with the risk of damage. Erosion potential increases at the spots with bare soil, which appear due to both construction work and natural processes, such as slumping.