Erosion-creep-collapse mechanism of underground soil loss for the karst rocky desertification in Chenqi village, Puding county, Guizhou, China

Carbonate rocks distribute widely in China. The total area of the carbonate rocks is about 3,430,000 km2, and the exposed area of the carbonate is approximately 13 % of China’s territory. In 2003, soil loss in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Guangxi provinces reached 179,600 km2, which is almost 40.1 % of the total area, causing rocky desertification. In this study, the erosion-creep-collapse mechanism of underground soil loss for the karst rocky desertification in Chenqi village, Puding county, Guizhou province is proposed. The mechanism occurs under the following geological environment: slope surface undulation, underlying bedrock surface fluctuation and thin and inhomogeneous soil overlying, overlying soil generation by bedrock weathering, underground karst development, and large groundwater depth and lying water table under the bottom of soils. The erosion-creep-collapse mechanism of underground soil loss in the karst slopes is explained as follows: power loss due to human cultivation activities that destroy the soil structure, hydraulic force formed by rainfall infiltration, wet–dry cycle generated by rainfall, erosion effect caused by rainfall penetration, creeping and flowing of plastic-stream soil, and collapse. The erosion-creep-collapse mechanism of underground soil loss has seven steps: disturbance of soils filled in underground karst cave by human activities, internal soil erosion and partial collapse caused by hydraulic power, internal free surface formation within the soil in the filled karst cave, internal soil creeping, soil pipe formation, soil pipe collapse, and ground surface collapse and filling. Soil loss develops slowly, and sudden transportation occurs by collapse. Soil loss can be explained by the proposed mechanism, and soil loss can be prevented by controlling soil collapse.