Soil & Water Res., 2016, 11(2):83-89 | DOI: 10.17221/280/2014-SWR

The role of surface microreliefs in influencing splash erosion: A laboratory studyOriginal Paper

Jia WU^1,2, Longshan ZHAO^2,3,4, Faqi WU^2,3, Zhanbin LI^1,3

¹ Faculty of Water Resources and Hydro-electric Engineering, Xi'an University of Technology, Xi'an, P.R. China

² College of Natural Resources and Environment, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, P.R. China

³ State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on Loess Plateau, Institute of Soil and Water Conservation, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, P.R. China;

⁴ College of Forestry, Guizhou University, Guiyang, P.R. China

The detachment and transport of soil particles from soil mass are important effects of falling raindrops on soil erosion during rainfall. The objective of this study was to determine whether soil microrelief affects the detachability and transportability of soil particles by raindrop splash. Experimental microreliefs were manually simulated by two tillage practices: shallow hoeing, contour chisel plowing, and a smooth slope served as control treatment. The experiment included three simulated rainfall intensities (1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mm/min). A splash board was used to collect sediment splashed upslope as well as that splashed downslope. Results show that microrelief has a positive effect on detachment rate (DR_t) and has a negative effect on net downslope movement rate (SP_net). With the exception of DR_t of which hoe treatment was less than smooth at the rainfall of 1.0 mm/min intensity, DR_t of hoe and chisel treatments were twice as high as that of smooth to other treatments. For all treatments, SP_net of hoe and chisel treatments were less than half of smooth. Regression analysis showed that DR_t change with increasing rainfall intensity could be described by a power function for all treatments. The change of SP_net could be described by a logarithmic function for hoe and chisel treatments, while the change of SP_net of the smooth treatment could not be described by a logarithmic function. Statistical results suggest that DR_t was significantly influenced by rainfall intensity, while SP_net was not. Conversely, SP_net was significantly influenced by soil microrelief, while DR_t was not.

Keywords: detachment rate; soil erosion; splash board; raindrop impact

Published: June 30, 2016  Show citation