In the morning of October 23^rd, 2009, upon the invitation from the Soil Erosion Institute of ESPRE, Dr. Glenn V. Wilson and Dr. Robert Ray Wells from the National Sedimentation Laboratory (NSL) of Agricultural Research Service (ARS), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), respectively give their academic reports on soil erosion to teachers and students of BNU in Room 108, Floor 2, No.2 Teaching Building of Beijing Normal University. Professor Xie Yun presides over the report meeting.

Dr. Wilson first gives a report titled Ephemeral Gully Erosion: Soil Quality and Crop Yield Impact and Location Prediction, in which he explains the concept of shallow gully erosion and its formation, and based on relative research works of the NSL expatiates the concept of soil quality which has close relation with “shallow gully erosion”, including measurement of various chemical, physical and biological indexes of soil quality. In the end, he briefly introduces the cooperative research of “93 Water and Soil Conservation Testing Station” in Heshan, Heilongjiang Province. in October.

Dr. Wells then makes a report titled Morphdynamics of Migrating Headcuts by Concentrated Flow, in which he lists several gully types, including typical gully, edge gully and shallow gully, analyzes the shortcomings of several existing definitions for shallow gully, and explains a few factors which cause formation of shallow gully. Dr. Wells, based on his experiences in researches on shallow gully erosion in Mississippi basin and Kansas, has developed out relative experimental equipments, by which he can conduct analysis on the morphdynamics of migrating headcuts through indoor data analysis and comparison.