Effect of joint structure and slope direction on the development of collapsing gully in tuffaceous sandstone area in South China

This study focuses on the collapsing gullies in tuffaceous sandstone area and investigates the slope direction and morphological characteristics of the main and branch gullies. Furthermore, we assess the structural characteristics of the rock joints within this area, including their strike, dip direction and dip angle. The results show that there are 405 collapsing gullies in the study area. The slope directions associated with collapsing gullies and the directions of the main gullies largely fall within the ranges of NE20°-NE90°, SE90°-SE160°, SW240°-SW270°, and NW270°-NW290°. The collapsing gullies include 1103 branch gullies in total, most of which have directions that fall within the ranges of NE20°-NE40°, NE50°-NE70°, NW280°-NW300°, and NW330°-NW350°. The joints in the bedrock are directional and regional, and they can be divided into two main groups. The number of southward dip directions is greater than the number of northward dip directions, and most of the measured dip angles are greater than 60°. The mean dip angle is greatest for joints with measured strike values of NW280°-NW290°, with a value of 85.2°. The development of collapse gullies is affected by both the slope direction and joints. The slope direction determines the direction of the main gullies, with a correlation coefficient of 0.809 (P<0.01). The branch gullies are mainly affected by joints, with a correlation coefficient of 0.876 (P<0.01). The joint structure also influences the degree of development of the collapsing gullies, and the average depth of the gullies that parallel the dominant joint orientation is significantly larger than that of gullies with other directions. Moreover, the average depth of the gullies associated with the dip angle of 85.2° measured relative to the joint strike is 6.89 m, which is significantly greater than that associated with lower dip angles. The dip angles of joints have an important effect on the infiltration of water, and high dip angles accelerate the erosion associated with collapsing gullies.