Analysing the factors affecting gully development and their relationships with land-use changes in the east Alentejo (Portugal)

The land abandonment and land-use changes as a consequence of the implementation of the European Union common Agricultural Policy (C. A. P.) in the SE of Portugal, have been generating, differences in the equilibrium of the geomorphic processes. The head waters catchments of some of the Guadiana River tributaries show in the study area several degrees of gully initiation and development both on the hillsides and valley bottom in fill. this gully generation process is closely related with the changes in the soil and cover properties occurring when agricultural practises have been replaced by intensive grazing areas or by abandoned land. (Author) 7 refs.