Effectiveness of geotextile mulches for slope restoration in semi-arid northern China

Abstract

In semiarid areas, slope restoration is usually hampered by high rainfall and temperature variability. These may cause severe erosion and slope instability, also environmental stresses, such as long-term drought and temperature extremes that lead to revegetation failure. In this study, three types of geotextiles including jute mat (JM), polyester mat (PM) and polyester net (PN) were installed on slopes and their effects on erosion control and vegetation growth were investigated by both laboratory and field experiments. The results of rainfall simulation experiments on laboratory plots showed that JM, PM and PN could delay the time to runoff, reducing runoff by 62.1%, 57.7% and 16.6%, and dec..