Affectability of splash erosion by polyacrylamide application and rainfall intensity

Abstract

Splash erosion is recognized as the first stage in a soil erosion process and results from the soil surface bombing by rain drops. At the moment when rain drops conflict with the soil surface, soil particles move and destruct the soil structure. Soil particles dispersed by rain drops and moved by runoff are two basic soil erosion processes. In this study, the effect of applying various amounts of polyacrylamide (PAM) (0, 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/m<sup>2</sup>) on the quantity of splash erosion at three rainfall intensities of 65, 95 and 120 mm/h by using of FEL3 rainfall simulator was investigated in marly soil in a laboratory. Results indicated differences in the effects of various treatments with PAM at all rainfall intensities, such as 0.6 g/m<sup>2</sup> PAM had the maximum effect on the splash erosion control by reducing soil erosion by about 28.93%. But statistical results showed that the use of various amounts of PAM (0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/m<sup>2</sup>) for controlling splash erosion at various rain intensities to decrease splash erosion did not reveal a statistically significant difference. Therefore, the application of 0.2, 0.4 and 0.6 g/m<sup>2</sup> PAM reduced the splash erosion, however, there was no statistical difference among these application rates of PAM. Finally, the results of statistical analysis of different intensities showed that only at 120 mm/h there was a significant difference between PAM treatment and control treatment (0 g/m<sup>2</sup> PAM) in the splash erosion control. At this intensity, the treatment with 0.4 g/m<sup>2</sup> PAM produced a maximum effect on the splash erosion control with 40% in comparison with the control treatment.