Abstract
Soil erosion by water is one of the most important factors affecting contemporary landscape changes within the lowland geoecosystems in Central Europe. Soil erosion mainly depends on rainfall (especially its intensity and erosivity), length of slope and its inclination, type of cultivation and usage of the land, antierosion treatments, and susceptibility of soils to erosion. The main goal of this research was to evaluate the impact of rainfall on soil erosion processes. This was realized by stationery observations and quantitative research conducted within the Chwalimski Brook catchment (NW Poland) since the early 90s. Additionally, the rainfall characteristics such as intensity, kinetic energy, and erosivity (represented by the rainfall erosivity indices EI5, EI10, EI15, EI20, EI30 and EI60) were computed. The presented results contain data on runoff, soil loss, and rainfall collected at a testing plot over 16 years (2001–2016 hydrological years). Annual rainfall erosivity (EI30) ranged from 144.7 to 782.1 MJ mm ha−1 h−1, precipitation totals varied from 524.9 to 919.7 mm, and soil loss ranged from 0.074 to 4.471 kg m−2. The greatest rates of soil loss were established in the most rainy years, although significant soil loss also occurred in below-average rainfall years, such as in 2013 and 2014. Consequently, the achieved results show that annual soil erosion primarily depends on individual rainfall and erosive events. Hence, the magnitude of soil erosion cannot be solely estimated based on the rainfall totals, but it is also necessary to consider the intensity and erosivity of each rainfall event.
Published Version
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