An evaluation of the universal soil loss equation and field techniques for assessing soil erosion on a tropical alfisol in western Nigeria

Four techniques for soil erosion assessment were compared over two consecutive seasons for bare-fallow plots and a maize-cowpea sequence in 1985 at IITA, Ibadan, Nigeria. The techniques used were: tracer (aluminium paint), nails (16 and 25), the rill method, and the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Soil loss estimated by these techniques was compared with that determined using the runoff plot technique. There was significantly more soil loss (P < 0·01) in bare-fallow than in plots under maize (Zea mays) or cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). In the first season, soil loss from plots sown to maize was 40·2 Mg ha^?1 compared with 153·3 Mg ha^?1 from bare-fallow plots. In the second season, bare-fallow plots lost 87·5 Mg ha^?1 against 39·4 Mg ha^?1 lost from plots growing cowpea. The techniques used for assessing erosion had no influence on the magnitude of soil erosion and did not interfere with the processes of erosion. There was no significant difference (P < 0·05) between soil erosion determined by the nails and the runoff plot technique. Soil loss determined on six plots (three under maize, three bare-fallow) by the rill technique, at the end of the season, was significantly lower (P < 0·05) than that determined by the runoff plot technique. The soil loss estimated by the rill method was 143·2, 108·8 and 121·9 Mg ha^?1 for 11, 11, and 8 per cent slopes respectively, in comparison with 201·5, 162·0, and 166·4 Mg ha^?1 measured by the runoff plot method. Soil loss measured on three bare-fallow plots on 10 different dates by the rill technique was also significantly lower (P < 0·01) than that measured by the runoff plot. In the first season the USLE significantly underestimated soil loss. On 11, 11, and 8 per cent slopes, respectively, soil loss determined by the USLE was 77, 92, and 63 per cent of that measured by the runoff plot. However, in the second season there was no significant difference between soil loss determined by the USLE and that determined by the conventional runoff plot technique.     

Dynamics and hotspots of soil erosion and management scenarios of the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

Most of the lowland in the central rift valley of Ethiopia is arid or semiarid and in degradation,with frequent occurrence of droughts.Soil erosion by water during the rainy season is a serious problem...     

Dynamics of soil erosion rates and controlling factors in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands – towards a sediment budget

This paper analyses the factors that control rates and extent of soil erosion processes in the 199 ha May Zegzeg catchment near Hagere Selam in the Tigray Highlands (Northern Ethiopia). This catchment, characterized by high elevations (2100–2650 m a.s.l.) and a subhorizontal structural relief, is typical for the Northern Ethiopian Highlands. Soil loss rates due to various erosion processes, as well as sediment yield rates and rates of sediment deposition within the catchment (essentially induced by recent soil conservation activities), were measured using a range of geomorphological methods. The area‐weighted average rate of soil erosion by water in the catchment, measured over four years (1998–2001), is 14·8 t ha^?1 y^?1, which accounts for 98% of the change in potential energy of the landscape. Considering these soil loss rates by water, 28% is due to gully erosion. Other geomorphic processes, such as tillage erosion and rock fragment displacement by gravity and livestock trampling, are also important, either within certain land units, or for their impact on agricultural productivity. Estimated mean sediment deposition rate within the catchment equals 9·2 t ha^?1 y^?1. Calculated sediment yield (5·6 t ha^?1 y^?1) is similar to sediment yield measured in nearby catchments. Seventy‐four percent of total soil loss by sheet and rill erosion is trapped in exclosures and behind stone bunds. The anthropogenic factor is dominant in controlling present‐day erosion processes in the Northern Ethiopian Highlands. Human activities have led to an overall increase in erosion process intensities, but, through targeted interventions, rural society is now well on the way to control and reverse the degradation processes, as can be demonstrated through the sediment budget. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The ability of detainment bunds to decrease sediments transported from pastoral catchments in surface runoff

Erosion leading to sedimentation in surface water may disrupt aquatic habitats and deliver sediment-bound nutrients that contribute to eutrophication. Land use changes causing loss of native vegetation have accelerated already naturally high erosion rates in New Zealand and increased sedimentation in streams and lakes. Sediment-bound phosphorus (P) makes up 71–79% of the 17–19 t P y⁻¹ delivered from anthropogenic sources to Lake Rotorua in New Zealand. Detainment bunds (DBs) were first implemented in the Lake Rotorua catchment in 2010 as a strategy to address P losses from pastoral agriculture. The bunds are 1.5–2 m high earthen stormwater retention structures constructed across the flow path of targeted low-order ephemeral streams with the purpose of temporarily ponding runoff on productive pastures. The current DB design protocol recommends a minimum pond volume of 120 m³ ha⁻¹ of contributing catchment with a maximum pond storage capacity of 10 000 m³. No previous study has investigated the ability of DBs to decrease annual suspended sediment (SS) loads leaving pastoral catchments. Annual SS yields delivered to two DBs with 20 ha and 55 ha catchments were 109 and 28 kg SS ha⁻¹, respectively, during this 12-month study. The DBs retained 1280 kg (59%) and 789 kg (51%) of annual SS loads delivered from the catchments as a result of the bunds' ability to impede stormflow and facilitate soil infiltration and sediment deposition. The results of this study highlight the ability of DBs to decrease SS loads transported from pastures in surface runoff, even during large storm events, and suggests DBs are able to reduce P loading in Lake Rotorua.     

Impact of soil and water conservation measures on catchment hydrological response—a case in north Ethiopia

Impact studies of catchment management in the developing world rarely include detailed hydrological components. Here, changes in the hydrological response of a 200‐ha catchment in north Ethiopia are investigated. The management included various soil and water conservation measures such as the construction of dry masonry stone bunds and check dams, the abandonment of post‐harvest grazing, and the establishment of woody vegetation. Measurements at the catchment outlet indicated a runoff depth of 5 mm or a runoff coefficient (RC) of 1·6% in the rainy season of 2006. Combined with runoff measurements at plot scale, this allowed calculating the runoff curve number (CN) for various land uses and land management techniques. The pre‐implementation runoff depth was then predicted using the CN values and a ponding adjustment factor, representing the abstraction of runoff induced by the 242 check dams in gullies. Using the 2006 rainfall depths, the runoff depth for the 2000 land management situation was predicted to be 26·5 mm (RC = 8%), in line with current RCs of nearby catchments. Monitoring of the ground water level indicated a rise after catchment management. The yearly rise in water table after the onset of the rains (ΔT) relative to the water surplus (WS) over the same period increased between 2002–2003 (ΔT/WS = 3·4) and 2006 (ΔT/WS >11·1). Emerging wells and irrigation are other indicators for improved water supply in the managed catchment. Cropped fields in the gullies indicate that farmers are less frightened for the destructive effects of flash floods. Due to increased soil water content, the crop growing period is prolonged. It can be concluded that this catchment management has resulted in a higher infiltration rate and a reduction of direct runoff volume by 81% which has had a positive influence on the catchment water balance. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Plot‐scale measurement of soil erosion at the experimental area of Sparacia (southern Italy)

Obtaining good quality soil loss data from plots requires knowledge of the factors that affect natural and measurement data variability and of the erosion processes that occur on plots of different sizes. Data variability was investigated in southern Italy by collecting runoff and soil loss from four universal soil‐loss equation (USLE) plots of 176 m², 20 ‘large’ microplots (0·16 m²) and 40 ‘small’ microplots (0·04 m²). For the four most erosive events (event erosivity index, R_e ≥ 139 MJ mm ha^?1 h^?1), mean soil loss from the USLE plots was significantly correlated with R_e. Variability of soil loss measurements from microplots was five to ten times greater than that of runoff measurements. Doubling the linear size of the microplots reduced mean runoff and soil loss measurements by a factor of 2·6–2·8 and increased data variability. Using sieved soil instead of natural soil increased runoff and soil loss by a factor of 1·3–1·5. Interrill erosion was a minor part (0·1–7·1%) of rill plus interrill erosion. The developed analysis showed that the USLE scheme was usable to predict mean soil loss at plot scale in Mediterranean areas. A microplot of 0·04 m² could be used in practice to obtain field measurements of interrill soil erodibility in areas having steep slopes. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rill erosion along the thalweg of a hillslope hollow: A case study from the cotswold hills,Central England

Rill erosion is an important erosional form on agricultural soils in England, causing large losses of soil, particularly on cultivated slopes. This paper describes a rill system that developed in a small agricultural catchment in north Oxfordshire during the winter of 1992–93. The rill system comprised two components: a system of ‘feeder rills’ along the valley-side slopes, which were the result of flow concentration and erosion along wheelings, and a thalweg rill, which formed along a dry valley bottom as a result of surface runoff concentration from the feeder rills. Total volumetric soil loss from the rill system was 32·28 m³, equivalent to 3·01 m³, ha^?1 for the rill catchment area, or 3·91 t ha^?1. Mean discharge for the thalweg rill and feeder rills, calculated during a storm event, was 31·101s^?1 and 1·171s^?1, respectively. All flows were fully turbulent and supercritical. We emphasize the need for a spatially distributed approach to the study of runoff and erosion at the catchment scale.     

Assessing soil erosion rates in cultivated areas of Navarre (Spain)

Although there is much evidence of intense soil erosion in cultivated areas of Navarre (Spain), information on it is currently scarce. Rill and ephemeral gully volumes can be used as a guide to minimum erosion rates. With the main purpose of determining the annual soil loss rates in cultivated areas of central Navarre, a detailed assessment of rainfall and of rill and gully erosion was made in 19 small catchments from October 1999 to September 2001. Seventeen of them were randomly selected, and were cultivated with winter cereals, vineyards or sunflowers. The other two catchments were selected to represent partially uncultivated lands abandoned for ten years. Channel cross‐sections were measured by using a 1‐m‐wide micro‐topographic profile meter, describing 632 cross‐sections and processing information from 31 600 pins. Erosive events happened every year in the three study areas. For cereal catchments, soil losses occurred in only one or two rainfall events each year, usually at the end of autumn and in some summers, with high erosion rates (0·20–11·50 kg m^?2 a^?1). In vineyards, soil losses occurred several times per year, and in any season. This is attributed to the small percentage of surface covered by the crop throughout the year. Again, high erosion rates were found (0·33–16·19 kg m^?2 a^?1), with ephemeral gully erosion causing more loss than rill erosion. No‐till is proposed as an effective conservation measure. From this large data set, it can be stated that rill erosion and ephemeral gully erosion are widespread in Mediterranean regions, and that much more attention should be paid to the problem. Abandoned fields showed very high erosion rates (16·19 kg m^?2 a^?1 on average), suggesting that the abandonment of marginal lands without implementing any erosion control can lead to severe erosion rates. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Gully and soil and water conservation structure densities in semi‐arid northern Ethiopia over the last 80 years

Gullies have been a common phenomenon in semi‐arid northern Ethiopia for the last centuries. However, soil and water conservation (SWC) structures have been implemented for a long time to curb soil erosion. Though, like most of the affected areas worldwide, density and distribution of gullies and SWC structures, their causes and interrelations are poorly understood. The aims of this study were to develop a technique for mapping these densities of gullies and SWC structures, to explain their spatial distribution and to analyze changes over the period 1935–2014. Aerial photographs from 1935 to 1936 and Google Earth images from 2014 of the 5142 km² Geba catchment were used. Transect lines were established to count gullies and SWC structures in order to calculate densities. On average, a gully density of 1.14 km km^?2 was measured in 1935–1936 of which the larger portion (75%) were vegetated, indicating they were not very active. Over 80 years, gully density has significantly increased to 1.59 km km^?2 with less vegetation growing in their channel, but 66% of these gullies were treated with check dams. There was c. 3 km km^?2 of indigenous SWC structures (daget or lynchets) in 1935–1936 whereas a high density (20 km km^?2) of introduced SWC structures (mainly stone bunds and terraces) were observed in 2014. The density of gullies is positively correlated with slope gradient and shrubland cover and negatively with cropland cover, whereas the density of SWC structures significantly increased with increasing cropland cover. Density maps of gullies and SWC structures indicate sensitive areas to gully formation and priority areas for the implementation of SWC structures in Geba catchment. The obtained results illustrate the feasibility of the methods applied to map the density of gullies and SWC structures in mountainous areas. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Land use change effects on runoff and erosion from plot to catchment scale on the basaltic plateau of Southern Brazil

In the region of the basaltic plateau in Southern Brazil, problems of runoff and erosion on the deep ferrallitic soils are becoming increasingly recognized. Land use change from conventional tillage using disk plough to no‐tillage on residues without terracing occurred at the beginning of the 1990s and it spread very quickly. Measurements of runoff and sediment concentrations on 1 m² plots receiving natural rainfall and simulated rainfall under different crops with different stages of growth and different tillage systems, field surveys and measurements of rills and gullies in nested experimental catchments indicate a relative decrease of runoff on slopes but an increase of subsurface flow, and a marked decrease of sheet and rill erosion and soil loss from plot to catchment scales. Nevertheless, the extension of parts of the gully system is still continuing, strongly influenced by extreme rainfall. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Runoff and sediment generation on bench‐terraced hillsides: measurements and up‐scaling of a field‐based model

Despite widespread bench‐terracing, stream sediment yields from agricultural hillsides in upland West Java remain high. We studied the causes of this lack of effect by combining measurements at different spatial scales using an erosion process model. Event runoff and sediment yield from two 4‐ha terraced hillside subcatchments were measured and field surveys of land use, bench‐terrace geometry and storage of sediment in the drainage network were conducted for two consecutive years. Runoff was 3·0–3·9% of rainfall and sediment yield was 11–30 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ for different years, subcatchments and calculation techniques. Sediment storage changes in the subcatchment drainage network were less than 2 t ha⁻¹, whereas an additional 0·3–1·5 t ha⁻¹ was stored in the gully between the subcatchment flumes and the main stream. This suggests mean annual sediment delivery ratios of 86–125%, or 80–104% if this additional storage is included. The Terrace Erosion and Sediment Transport (TEST) model developed and validated for the studied environment was parameterized using erosion plot studies, land use surveys and digital terrain analysis to simulate runoff and sediment generation on the terraced hillsides. This resulted in over‐estimates of runoff and under‐estimates of runoff sediment concentration. Relatively poor model performance was attributed to sample bias in the six erosion plots used for model calibration and unaccounted covariance between important terrain attributes such as slope, infiltration capacity, soil conservation works and vegetation cover. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Towards constraining the magnitude of global agricultural sediment and soil organic carbon fluxes

Reliable quantitative data on the extent and rates of soil erosion are needed to understand the global significance of soil‐erosion induced carbon exchange and to underpin the development of science‐based mitigation strategies, but large uncertainties remain. Existing estimates of agricultural soil and soil organic carbon (SOC) erosion are very divergent and span two orders of magnitude. The main objective of this study was to test the assumptions underlying existing assessments and to reduce the uncertainty associated with global estimates of agricultural soil and SOC erosion. We parameterized a simplified erosion model driven by coarse global databases using an empirical database that covers the conterminous USA. The good agreement between our model results and empirical estimates indicate that the approach presented here captures the essence of agricultural erosion at the scales of continents and that it may be used to predict the significance of erosion for the global carbon cycle and its impact on soil functions. We obtained a global soil erosion rate of 10.5 Mg ha^‐1 y^‐1 for cropland and 1.7 Mg ha^‐1 y^‐1 for pastures. This corresponds to SOC erosion rates of 193 kg C ha^‐1 y^‐1 for cropland and 40.4 kg C ha^‐1 y^‐1 for eroding pastures and results in a global flux of 20.5 (±10.3) Pg y^‐1 of soil and 403.5 (±201.8) Tg C y^‐1. Although it is difficult to accurately assess the uncertainty associated with our estimates of global agricultural erosion, mainly due to the lack of model testing in (sub‐)tropical regions, our estimates are significantly lower than former assessments based on the extrapolation of plot experiments or global application of erosion models. Our approach has the potential to quantify the rate and spatial signature of the erosion‐induced disturbance at continental and global scales: by linking our model with a global soil profile database, we estimated soil profile modifications induced by agriculture. This showed that erosion‐induced changes in topsoil SOC content are significant at a global scale (an average SOC loss of 22% in 50 years) and agricultural soils should therefore be considered as dynamic systems that can change rapidly. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Characterization of surface storage and runoff patterns following peatland restoration,Quebec, Canada

Blocking drainage ditches and creating bunds to limit surface water losses are important for restoring abandoned peat‐extraction sites in North America. However, these runoff control techniques have not been well characterized, particularly during the snowmelt period. Therefore, patterns of runoff timing and magnitude were evaluated in a peatland (Bois‐des‐Bel, Quebec, Canada) undergoing restoration (restored site), in comparison with an unrestored section of the same peatland (unrestored site). Snowmelt dominated runoff, representing over 79% of the April to August runoff for both sites in 2001. Low (25–35 cm) bunds constructed on the restored site detained water for much of the melt period, but some water loss occurred where bunds were breached. Overland flow and surface ponding were prevalent at the restored site, but were not evident at the unrestored site. At the restored site, the presence of bunds and frozen, saturated (thus impermeable) ground contributed to differences in snowmelt runoff patterns relative to the unrestored site. In the post‐snowmelt period (May–August 2001 and 2002), restored site runoff was reduced to 25% of that lost at the unrestored site. Both hydrometric and chemical hydrograph separation analysis using electrical conductivity indicated that blocked ditches restricted water losses from much of the restored site during the summer months, when the bunds had little effect on runoff. However, discharge peaks were greater at the restored site relative to the unrestored site and generally occurred more quickly following rainfall, because of the wetter antecedent conditions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors affecting rill erosion of unpaved loess roads in China

This study explores factors that affect road surface erosion in a small watershed on the Loess Plateau. Global positioning system (GPS)‐assisted field surveys and geographical information system methods were applied. The results show that road surface rills in the watershed are more easily formed on main roads, which are disturbed by intensive human activities. Secondary unpaved road networks occupied the largest road surface area and contributed 49% of the total road surface rill volumes. Spatial analysis reveals that roads near residential areas or leading to other human‐disturbed land‐use types are at high risk of soil loss. In each road segment, slope gradient, road segment length and drainage area have impacts on surface rill formation and development. Among these factors, slope gradients have been verified as a controlling factor of rill erosion intensification. Both road segment length (R = 0.83, N = 82) and drainage area (R = 0.72 for road segment and 0.76 for upslope drainage areas, N = 82) significantly influence total road surface rill volumes. The interaction variable of road segment length multiplied by slope is more closely correlated with road segment soil loss than that of the independent variables alone. Linear equations composed of slope gradient, road segment length and upslope drainage area are proposed. The new equation performs much better at predicting surface soil loss from secondary road segments compared with the previous models, which have not considered upslope drainage areas. The relationships and equations from this study will be helpful for road erosion evaluation in a small watershed of the study area. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rill characteristics and sediment transport as a function of slope length during a storm event on loess soil

On the basis of detailed rill surveys carried out on bare plots of different lengths at slopes of 12 per cent, basic rill parameters were derived. Rill width and maximum depth increased with plot length, whereas rill amount and cross‐sectional area, expressed per unit length, remained similar. On smaller plots, all rills were connected in a continuous transport system reaching the plot outlet, whilst on larger plots (10 and 20 m long) part of the rills ended with a deposition areas inside the plots. Amounts of erosion, calculated from rill volume and soil bulk density, were compared with soil loss measured at the plot outlets. On plots 10 and 20 m long, erosion estimated from volume of all rills was larger than measured soil loss. The latter was larger than erosion estimated from volume of contributing rills. To identify contributing soil loss area on these plots, two methods were applied: (i) ratio of total soil loss to maximum soil loss per unit area, and (ii) partition of plot area according to the ratio of contributing to total rill volume. Both methods resulted in similar areas of 21·8–23·5 m² for the plot 10 m long and 31·2 m² for the plot 20 m long. Identification of contributing areas enabled rill (5·9 kg m^?2) and interrill (2·6 kg m^?2) erosion rate to be calculated, the latter being very close to the value predicted from the Universal Soil Loss Equation. Although rill and interrill rates seemed to be similar on all plots, their ratio increased slightly with plot length. Application of this ratio to compute slope length factor of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation resulted in similar values to those predicted with the model. The achieved balance of soil loss suggested that all the sediment measured at the plot outlet originated from contributing rills and associated contributing rill areas. The results confirmed the utility of different plot lengths as a research tool for analysing the dynamic response of soil to rainfall–runoff. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spatial distribution of pipe collapses in Goodwin Creek Watershed,Mississippi

The internal erosion of soil pipes can induce pipe collapses that affect soil erosion processes and landform evolution. The objective of this study was to determine the spatial distribution of pipe collapses in agricultural fields of Goodwin Creek watershed. Ground survey was carried out to detect pipe collapses, and the location, size and surface elevation was measured with differential GPS. A total of 143 of the 145 pipe collapses were found in cropland, and the density was approximately 0.58 collapses per hectare. The spatial distribution of pipe collapses was not uniform as pipe collapses were concentrated in the flat alluvial plains where the land use was dominated by cropland. One of the four parcels had 90% of the pipe collapses with a density of 7.7 collapses per hectare. The mean depth, area and volume of these pipe collapses were 0.12 m, 0.34 m² and 0.02 m³, respectively, and all these properties exhibited a skewed distribution. The drainage area–slope gradient equation, which has been widely used for erosion phenomenon prediction, did not represent pipe collapses in this study as the coefficient of determination was <0.01. This is clear evidence that subsurface flow is not represented by surface topographic characteristics. The pipe collapses were found to intercept runoff, thereby reducing the slope length factor by 6% and the drainage area by 7%. Both of these factors can reduce the sheet and rill erosion; however, the increased subsurface flow could enhance ephemeral gully erosion. Published 2012. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.     

Concentrated flow erosion as a main source of sediments in Galicia,Spain

Knowledge of soil loss rates by water erosion under given climate, soil, topography, and management conditions is important for establishing soil conservation schemes. In Galicia, a region with Atlantic climatic conditions in Spain, field observations over the last decade indicate that interrill, rill and ephemeral gully erosion may be an important sediment source. The aim of this work was to assess concentrated erosion rates, describe types of rills and ephemeral gullies and determine their origin, evolution and importance as sediment sources. Soil surface state and concentrated flow erosion were surveyed on medium textured soils, developed over basic schists of the Ordenes Complex series (Coruña province, Spain) from 1997 to 2006. Soil surface state was characterized by crust development, tillage features and roughness degree. Soil erosion rate was directly measured in the field. Concentrated flow erosion took place mainly on seedbeds and recently tilled surfaces in late spring and by autumn or early winter. During the study period, erosion rates were highly variable and the following situations could be distinguished: (a) no incision or limited rill incision, i.e. below 2 Mg ha^?1 year^?1; (b) generalized rill and ephemeral gully incision in the class of mean values between 2·5 and 6·25 Mg ha^?1 year^?1, this was the most common erosion pattern; and (c) heavy erosion as observed during an extremely wet winter period, between October 2000 and February 2001, with erosion figures that may be about ten orders of magnitude higher, up to 55–60 Mg ha^?1 year^?1. Therefore, low values of soil losses are dominant, but also large values of rill and ephemeral gully erosion occurred during the study period. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Factors affecting connectivity and sediment yields following wildfire and post-fire salvage logging in California's Sierra Nevada

Sediment delivery following post-fire logging is a concern relative to water quality. While studies have assessed the effect of post-fire logging on sediment yields at different spatial scales, none have explicitly identified sediment sources. Our goal was to quantify post-fire and post-salvage logging sediment yields and use rill patterns to identify sediment sources. We measured the extent and type of logging disturbance, length of rills per unit area or “rill density”, ground cover, and sediment yields in nine logged and five control small catchments or “swales”, 0.09 to 0.81 ha, for 5 years after the 2013 Rim Fire in California's Sierra Nevada. The logged swales had a mean ground disturbance of 31%. After the first wet season following logging, there was no difference in either mean rill density (0.071 and 0.088 m m⁻², respectively) or mean transformed, normalized sediment yields between the control and logged swales. Untransformed mean sediment yields across three sites ranged from 0.11–11.8 and 1.1–3.2 Mg ha⁻¹ for the controls and salvage-logged swales, respectively. Rill density was strongly related to sediment yield and increased significantly with the amount of high-traffic skid trail disturbance in logged swales. Rill density was not significantly related to the amount of bare soil despite a significant relationship between sediment yields and bare soil. Rills usually initiated in bare soil and frequently connected high traffic skid trails to the drainage network after being diverted by waterbars. Rill connectivity and sediment yields decreased in control and logged swales where vegetation or other surface cover was high, suggesting this cover disconnected rills from the drainage network. Increasing ground cover on skid trails and between areas disturbed by post-fire logging and stream channels may reduce sediment yields as well as the hydrologic connectivity between hillslopes and the drainage network.     

Amorphous silica mobilization by inter‐rill erosion: insights from rainfall experiments

Amorphous silica (ASi) carried in suspension by rivers is an important component in the global Si budget. Water erosion processes in cultivated catchments are likely to drive ASi delivery to the river system. However, no studies have investigated the controls on ASi mobilization by erosional processes in croplands. Rainfall experiments were performed on split fields (i.e. a part conventionally ploughed and a part under reduced tillage) to simulate ASi mobilization by inter‐rill erosion in croplands, and identify its dependency on soil, field and rainfall characteristics. The ASi content of the soil and the inter‐rill erosion rate were determined as the major controls on ASi mobilization. Variables such as tillage technique and crop type did not have a consistent direct or indirect effect. Inter‐rill erosion is clearly selective with respect to ASi, indicating association of ASi with the fine soil fraction and with soil organic carbon. Our experiments demonstrate that erosion increases due to human perturbation will increase the delivery of reactive Si to aquatic systems. We estimate that globally, c. 7% of all reactive Si that enters aquatic systems is derived from erosion of agricultural soils. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Orders of magnitude increase in soil erosion associated with land use change from native to cultivated vegetation in a Brazilian savannah environment

The Brazilian savanna (cerrado) is a large and important economic and environmental region that is experiencing significant loss of its natural landscapes due to pressures of food and energy production, which in turn has caused large increases in soil erosion. However the magnitude of the soil erosion increases in this region is not well understood, in part because scientific studies of surface runoff and soil erosion are scarce or nonexistent in the cerrado as well as in other savannahs of the world. To understand the effects of deforestation we assessed natural rainfall‐driven rates of runoff and soil erosion on an undisturbed tropical woodland classified as ‘cerrado sensu stricto denso’ and bare soil. Results were evaluated and quantified in the context of the cover and management factor (C‐factor) of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). Replicated data on precipitation, runoff, and soil loss on plots (5 × 20 m) under undisturbed cerrado and bare soil were collected for 77 erosive storms that occurred over 3 years (2012 through 2014). C‐factor was computed annually using values of rainfall erosivity and soil loss rate. We found an average runoff coefficient of ~20% for the plots under bare soil and less than 1% under undisturbed cerrado. The mean annual soil losses in the plots under bare soil and cerrado were 12.4 t ha^‐1 yr^‐1 and 0.1 t ha^‐1 yr^‐1, respectively. The erosivity‐weighted C‐factor for the undisturbed cerrado was 0.013. Surface runoff, soil loss and C‐factor were greatest in the summer and fall. Our results suggest that shifts in land use from the native to cultivated vegetation result in orders of magnitude increases in soil loss rates. These results provide benchmark values that will be useful to evaluate past and future land use changes using soil erosion models and have significance for undisturbed savanna regions worldwide. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.