AbstractThe aim of this study was to determine what effect rainfall intensity, microrelief roughness and slope have on the interactions between sealing, runoff formation, rainsplash detachment and interill soil loss by wash from air dry soil surfaces. Soil material from the plough horizon of a loess‐derived Haplic Luvisol was subjected to simulated rainfall to measure these effects.Irrespective of the above three treatments studied, rates of runoff, splash, and interill soil loss were found to follow three distinct stages, confirming earlier work. Splash rates as a function of rainfall energy indicated a distinct maximum before leveling off, while both runoff and soil loss displayed asymptotic curves, the respective rise of rates coinciding with the maximum splash rates. Rainfall intensity had the greatest effects on the studied parameters, high intensities increasing final infiltration rates at the expense of overproportionally higher soil loss rates. Rough soil surfaces diminished both splash and soil loss, while slope only affected soil loss. In an additional treatment with a pre‐crusted soil surface, dispersion of the crust due to air slaking was believed to be the cause of increased runoff rates and a decrease in equilibrium splash and soil loss rates.Seal erosion by runoff, dissipation of rainfall energy due to puddling, increased cohesion of the soil surface as a result of sealing are some of the factors involved in the interactions studied, and the extent to which these single processes counteract or compensate each other depends on the type of force acting and the flow conditions at the soil surface.