A ‘catch all’ definition would be ‘a water-made cutting, usually steep-sided with a flattened floor’, but Bergonese and Reis (2011) ESPL 36, 11, 1554 provide six definitions currently in use. An ephemeral gully is a small channel eroded by concentrated overland flow that can easily be filled by normal tillage, only to reform in the same location with further runoff (Soil Science Society of America, 1996). Gullying usually occurs in unconsolidated rock and rarely cuts through bedrock. Gullies usually form quickly as a result of destruction of the plant cover; see Malik (2008) Geomorph. 93, 3–4. It can be stopped by restoring a vegetation cover, by contour ploughing, and by making terraces and small dams across the hillside; see Xiang-Zhou et al. (2004) Env. Sci. & Policy 7, 2; Fu et al. (2000) Catena 39, 1.