Scale dependent thresholds in hydrological and erosion response of a semi-arid catchment in southeast Spain

Abstract

Land degradation and soil erosion are perceived as important problems in the dryland zones of the Mediterranean. Three-year measurements of hydrological and soil erosion data from a series of nested experimental watersheds in a semi-arid area of SE Spain are discussed. The aim was to study the role and effects of thresholds on the spatial connections between different system compartments, such as response units and sub-catchments that act at different levels of scale (plot to watershed scale). It was also the aim to quantify runoff and erosion at these different scales. Several types of thresholds are described and these are related to vegetation type and pattern, soil surface roughness, distance to the main channel, land use and tillage effects (intrinsic properties of the landscape) as well as rainfall intensity, duration and depth (external influence). The expansion of runoff generating areas under Hortonian overland flow is discussed in relation to vegetation structure and rainfall. Results showed that runoff and sediment yield results highly depend on the vegetation structure. The relation between rainfall intensity and rainfall depth and the hydrological response were established at five levels of scale. Three spatio-temporal process domains were analysed: the spot- and plot-processes at the finest scale, the hillslope, micro- and sub-catchment processes at the intermediate scale and catchment scale and main channel network processes at the broadest scale. An event with a 5-year recurrence period is discussed to illustrate the importance of scale related thresholds, explaining the relative importance of high intensity rainfalls. Soil erosion was found to be a magnitude larger on terraced valley bottoms (2500–3000 g m−2) when compared to the semi-natural hillslopes, where erosion figures were less than 10 g m−2. This indicated that the contribution of sediment from terraced cultivated lands is important and are an underestimated part of the sediment budget of semi-arid catchments.