Abstract
Land degradation by soil erosion is one of the most severe environmental issues that is greatly dependent on land use management. In this study, the effects of long-term land use management (including annual cultivated field (ACF), fallow field (FF), rangeland (R), and orchard field (OF)), soil depth (0–10 and 10–20 cm), and soil organic matter content (SOM) on wind- and water-erosion indices were investigated in calcareous soils of southern Iran. Soil samples were collected from four above-mentioned land-use types, and some soil properties and erosion indices were measured. Results showed that the most of soil aggregates stability indices in the surface layer (0–10 cm) of OF were higher than those in ACF, FF, and R, respectively, by nearly 39%, 32%, and 47% for dry mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWDdry); 10%, 10%, and 48% for dry geometric mean weight diameter of aggregates (GMDdry); 21%, 17%, and 15% for water-stable aggregates (WSA); and 11%, 16%, and 31% for aggregate stability index (ASI). Moreover, the mean of the soil wind erosion indicators in OF (0–10 cm) were lower than those in ACF, FF, and R, respectively, by nearly 18%, 24%, and 26%, for wind-erodible fraction (EF); 43%, 38%, and 49% for soil erodibility to wind erosion (K); and 36%, 32%, and 41% for wind erosion rate (ER). In ACF, despite the high clay content, some aggregate stability indices such as MWøDdry and WSA were the lowest among studied land-use types which showed the negative effects of conventional tillage practices. Depth factor had only a significant effect on dust emission potential (DEP) in ACF, FF, and OF. In addition, there were significant and strong correlations between SOM and MWDdry (r = 0.79), WSA (r = 0.77), EF (r = −0.85), K (r = 0.74), and ER (r = 0.74) in all datasets.
Highlights
Land degradation has been widely recognized as a global problem associated with desertification, low agricultural productivity, and rapid changes in ecosystems around the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran [1,2]
Land degradation is greatly dependent on land use management [8]
There was no significant difference in silt content between all studied land-use types
Summary
Land degradation has been widely recognized as a global problem associated with desertification, low agricultural productivity, and rapid changes in ecosystems around the world, especially in arid and semi-arid regions like Iran [1,2]. Land degradation by soil erosion is one of the most severe environmental issues that affects many aspects of human life. Due to their detachment forces can transport soil components and are considered as the most important types of land degradation. 400 mm, wind erosion is more important than water erosion. In these regions, soils are relatively dry for a long time during the year; the adhesion power between water and soil particles decreases and soil becomes more sensitive for transporting to off-site areas. There are several techniques to measure the K-factor including using soil
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