Soil erodibility evaluation by splash cups under the simulated rainfalls

Abstract

Soil erodibility is an important parameter to determine the sensibility of soil to the erosion and there are many methods to specify the erodibility. Until today, many methods were improved and the “Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), which has the most common use in worldwide, is one of them. In this prediction technology, the soil susceptibility to the water erosion is represented by a multiplier factor together with those for climate, topography, vegetation and conservation practices. This study aimed to determine a soil erodibility factor by the laboratory simulated rainfall tests under the specified kinetic energy and rainfall intensity values using the splash cups. For test soils, a total of 256 surface samples were taken from the fallow-crop system in the Asartepe Dam Basin and the splash erosion rate was found with the units compatible with the USLE. However, since the USLE predicts soil losses from not only splash erosion but also sheet and rill erosions, the measured splash values should be mathematically related to the erodibility equations commonly employed in the model in order to meet the model requirement.

Keywords

• Splash erosion, rainfall simulation, energy flow, soil erodibility

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