Multi-parametric GIS analysis to assess gully erosion susceptibility: a test in southern Sicily, Italy

A GIS-analysis was carried out in a test basin of southern Sicily, the Magazzolo River basin, in order to assess susceptibility conditions to gully erosion phenomena. The linear density of ephemeral and permanent gullies computed within each class of nine environmental variables was used to generate a gully erosion susceptibility map for the area. A validation procedure carried out in order to test the reliability of the adopted method highlighted a clear correlation between the occurrence of gullies and the computed susceptibility levels