Natural and human influence on loess gully catchment evolution: A case study from Lublin Upland, E Poland

•A detailed, field investigation of the loess gully catchment was conducted.•The evolution of the gully system was conditioned by climatic and human factors.•The role of rainfalls is attested by the deposition of gravels on the alluvial fan.•The influence of dirt roads on the development of gullies was important.•The agriculturally use is not necessary for gullies development.

This paper presents the functioning of a gully system catchment in the loess area of the Lublin Upland (eastern Poland) based on investigations of soil and sediment sequences filling the valley floors and correlative sediments on the alluvial fan at the valley outlet. Stages of the catchment's evolution are proposed, from the Meso-Holocene (8400–5100 BP) followed by prehistorical and historical stages of human activity to modern times (gully erosion). Varying erosional processes have been identified over a period of about 2800 years BP: washing and sediment deposition on the alluvial fan at early stages followed by multi branched gully system development. Later on, land use change of deforestation and agriculture led to dissection of gully edges by a system of badlands. This study demonstrates the roll of the human factor as a shifting agent between dominant geomorphic processes in the same catchment area over a long period of time.