Size characteristics of sediment in interrill overland flow on a semiarid hillslope,Southern Arizona

This study examines the size characteristics of sediment removed from a semiarid hillslope by interrill overland flow. Rainfall simulation experiments were conducted on a runoff plot 18 m wide and 35 m long established on a piedmont hillslope in southern Arizona. The top of the plot coincided with the hillslope divide, and its outlet was located within a shallow rill. Samples of runoff were obtained from two cross-sections located in the interrill portion of the plot upslope of the rill and from a calibrated flume through which was directed interrill overland flow reaching the bottom of the plot. Analyses of sediment contained in these samples showed that sediment in interrill flow is finer than the matrix soil. The fineness of the interrill sediment compared to the matrix soil appears to be due to the inability of interrill overland flow to transport the coarser fraction of the sediment supplied to it by raindrop detachment. This finding implies that the rate of soil erosion in interrill areas is not. as is commonly supposed, limited by the rate at which raindrops can detach sediment but by the rate at which they detach sediment of a size that the overland flow is competent to transport. The relative fineness of sediment eroded from this hillslope is consistent with other evidence for the recent evolution of shrub-covered hillslopes in southern Arizona.