Abstract
ABSTRACT Water erosion degrades the soil and contaminates the environment, and one influential factor on erosion is slope length. The aim of this study was to quantify losses of soil (SL) and water (WL) in a Humic Cambisol in a field experiment under natural rainfall conditions from July 4, 2014 to June 18, 2015 in individual events of 41 erosive rains in the Southern Plateau of Santa Catarina and to estimate soil losses through the USLE and RUSLE models. The [...]
Highlights
Water erosion is the main factor of soil degradation since it impoverishes the place of origin of erosion and pollutes the environment outside of that place, especially water resources
Soil losses estimated by the USLE and RUSLE model showed lower values than the values observed experimentally in the field, especially the values estimated by the USLE
The following hypotheses were formulated: in bare soil, the relation between slope length and soil loss is linear; soil losses are related to water losses and the Erosivity Index (EI30), while water losses are related to the rain depth; soil losses are underestimated by the USLE and RUSLE compared to the values observed in the field; and the L factor of the USLE and modified L factor of the RUSLE result in a satisfactory estimate of soil loss
Summary
Water erosion is the main factor of soil degradation since it impoverishes the place of origin of erosion and pollutes the environment outside of that place, especially water resources. Rainfall erosion is influenced by rainfall, soil, relief, soil cover, and management and conservation practices, including the stages of detachment, transport, and deposition that occur concomitantly (Ellison, 1947; Wischmeier and Smith, 1978; Renard et al, 1997). The soil is the passive agent and its susceptibility to erosion depends on its intrinsic characteristics, expressed by erodibility. Without surface cover and without conservation practices, soil erosion depends predominantly on erosivity, erodibility, and on the particular conditions of soil relief (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978; Renard et al, 1997). The effect of slope length on erosion occurs through an increase in the volume and the speed of runoff, resulting in increased capacity of the runoff to disaggregate and transport sediments (Bagarello and Ferro, 2010)
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