A source of bias in rates of surface soil movement as estimated from marked particles

When estimated from measurements of introduced tracer particles, the rate of surface soil movement tends to be greater than the natural rate for equivalent particles on the same site. This consistent overestimation is greatest in the period following tracer introduction and leads to a measurement bias that may be as high as 300 per cent. The magnitude of the bias decreases with time, as the tracer is incorporated into the surface material, but remains detectable statistically for more than a year on some low-angle sites.