Wind erosion in Northeastern Nigeria. 1. Erodibility factors

Abstract

Soils of northeastern Nigeria (subject to wind erosion) were studied for erodibility. Samples of the surface soil were analyzed to determine the percentages of sand, silt, clay, organic carbon, and calcium carbonate and the aggregate stability and size distribution. The intrinsic and dynamic soil properties contributed to the erodibility of the soils. The sandy northern part of the study area had higher percentages of fine sand and lower percentages of silt, clay, and organic carbon, quite variable amounts of calcium carbonate, and lower aggregate stability and size distribution in comparison with the southern half of the study area. Soils in the south were more stable, with larger nonerodible size distribution and 50% less wind‐erodible fraction than the north. The computed soil‐erodible fraction from soil properties was highly correlated fr = 0.89, p < 0.01) with the measured erodible fraction. This implies that soil erodibility can be computed from the soil's physical and chemical properties for northe...