Morphological characteristics of ephemeral gullies in Sicily, south Italy

Ephemeral gullies (EGs) are channels of different sizes refilled by tillage equipment normally used on farms. Inthis paper, the data-set collected from 1995 to 2007 in a wheat-cultivated area in Raddusa (Sicily, Italy), having a surface ofalmost 80 ha, were used to analyze the morphological characteristics of EGs. The measurements show an high temporal variabilityin EG characteristics. The EG measurements and the rill erosion measurements carried out in 15 plots located in theexperimental “Sparacia” area (Sicily), demonstrated that a morphological similarity condition exists between rills andephemeral gullies. The occurrence of step-pool structures in an EG occurring in the observation period in the same place allowsto conclude that, in the considered environment, an ephemeral channel, such an EG, similarly to a stream, tends toreach a step-pool morphology as the structure that maximises its stability.