Significance of wind-driven rain (wind-splash) in the erosion of blanket peat

Abstract

Wind-splash is a process in which wind and rain combine to cause soil erosion. In upland Britain, the conditions necessary for wind-splash erosion are relatively common and frequently occur in locations where blanket peat is an important land cover. A typical location is Moss Flats (North Pennines, northern England, UK). Wind-splash processes were monitored intensively at this site over 3 months using a circular configuration of mass flux sediment samplers, and meteorological data logged from an on-site automatic weather station. Maximum peat flux rates were measured between south-southwest and west-northwest directions in association with relatively moderate intensity, frontal rainfall, typically 4–6 mm h − 1 . Wind-splash processes operate in any direction due to changeable synoptic weather patterns. Windward peat fluxes were typically 2–13 times greater than those recorded at leeward orientations. Spatial patterns of erosion are reflected in the wider landscape through the development of small-scale, erosional landforms (peat hags), which frequently display preferred orientations within the range of maximum peat flux. It is suggested that wind-splash may be a more important process of peat erosion than hitherto reported in UK upland areas.