scholarly journals Long-term forecast of changes in soil erosion losses during spring snowmelt caused by climate within the plain part of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-605
Author(s):  
Oleksandr A. Svetlitchnyi
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Baseline Period ◽  
Average Value ◽  
Relative Change ◽  
Spring Snowmelt ◽  
Soil Losses

The paper deals with the forecast of changes in erosion soil losses during the spring snowmelt due to climate change in the regions of Ukraine in the middle of the 21st century (during 2031–2050) and at its end (during 2081–2100) compared with the values of the baseline period (1961–1990). The forecast is based on the use of the so-called “hydrometeorological factor of spring soil loss”. This factor is a part of the physical-statistical mathematical model of soil erosion lossduring spring snowmelt, developed at the Department of Physical Geography of Odesa I. I. Mechnikov State (since 2000 — National) University during the 1980s – 1990s. The long-term average value of the hydrometeorological factor is linearly related to the long-term average value of spring erosion soil loss. Therefore, the relative change in the hydrometeorological factor corresponds to the relative change in soil erosion losses. The developed methodology for assessing climate-induced changes in soil erosion losses in five regions of Ukraine (North, West, Center, East and South) takes into account the change in water equivalent of snow cover at the beginning of snow melting, the change in surface runoff and its turbidity, and changes in soil erodibility. The forecast of changes in erosion soil loss was carried out using projections of annual and monthly average air temperatures and precipitation for 2031–2050 and 2081–2100 in accordance with scenario A1B from AR4 of the IPCC. As a result of the research, it was found that both in the middle and at the end of the 21st century a decrease in the rate of soil erosion during the period of spring snowmelt is expected. During 2031–2050, the expected soil losses will be less than corresponding baseline period values within the West region by 79%, within the North and East regions by 81%, and within the Center region by 85%. In the South region, the spring soil losses will be zero due to the lack of snow cover. During 2081–2100 snow cover will be absent not only in the South region, but also in the Center and East regions. In the regions North and West snow cover will remain, but the spring soil erosion losses will decrease by dozens of times and will be so small that they can also be ignored.

scholarly journals Soil erosion by snow gliding – a first quantification attempt in a subalpine area in Switzerland

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 3763-3775 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Meusburger ◽  
G. Leitinger ◽  
L. Mabit ◽  
M. H. Mueller ◽  
A. Walter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Sediment Yield ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Water Erosion ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Snow Gliding

Abstract. Snow processes might be one important driver of soil erosion in Alpine grasslands and thus the unknown variable when erosion modelling is attempted. The aim of this study is to assess the importance of snow gliding as a soil erosion agent for four different land use/land cover types in a subalpine area in Switzerland. We used three different approaches to estimate soil erosion rates: sediment yield measurements in snow glide depositions, the fallout radionuclide 137Cs and modelling with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). RUSLE permits the evaluation of soil loss by water erosion, the 137Cs method integrates soil loss due to all erosion agents involved, and the measurement of snow glide deposition sediment yield can be directly related to snow-glide-induced erosion. Further, cumulative snow glide distance was measured for the sites in the winter of 2009/2010 and modelled for the surrounding area and long-term average winter precipitation (1959–2010) with the spatial snow glide model (SSGM). Measured snow glide distance confirmed the presence of snow gliding and ranged from 2 to 189 cm, with lower values on the north-facing slopes. We observed a reduction of snow glide distance with increasing surface roughness of the vegetation, which is an important information with respect to conservation planning and expected and ongoing land use changes in the Alps. Snow glide erosion estimated from the snow glide depositions was highly variable with values ranging from 0.03 to 22.9 t ha−1 yr−1 in the winter of 2012/2013. For sites affected by snow glide deposition, a mean erosion rate of 8.4 t ha−1 yr−1 was found. The difference in long-term erosion rates determined with RUSLE and 137Cs confirms the constant influence of snow-glide-induced erosion, since a large difference (lower proportion of water erosion compared to total net erosion) was observed for sites with high snow glide rates and vice versa. Moreover, the difference between RUSLE and 137Cs erosion rates was related to the measured snow glide distance (R2 = 0.64; p < 0.005) and to the snow deposition sediment yields (R2 = 0.39; p = 0.13). The SSGM reproduced the relative difference of the measured snow glide values under different land uses and land cover types. The resulting map highlighted the relevance of snow gliding for large parts of the investigated area. Based on these results, we conclude that snow gliding appears to be a crucial and non-negligible process impacting soil erosion patterns and magnitude in subalpine areas with similar topographic and climatic conditions.

scholarly journals Soil Erosion Estimates in Arid Region: A Case Study of the Koutine Catchment, Southeastern Tunisia

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6763
Author(s):  
Mongi Ben Zaied ◽  
Seifeddine Jomaa ◽  
Mohamed Ouessar
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Field Measurements ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variability ◽  
Soil Conditions ◽  
Storm Events ◽  
Erosion Processes ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Soil Losses

Soil erosion remains one of the principal environmental problems in arid regions. This study aims to assess and quantify the variability of soil erosion in the Koutine catchment using the RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) model. The Koutine catchment is located in an arid area in southeastern Tunisia and is characterized by an annual mean precipitation of less than 200 mm. The model was used to examine the influence of topography, extreme rainstorm intensity and soil texture on soil loss. The data used for model validation were obtained from field measurements by monitoring deposited sediment in settlement basins of 25 cisterns (a traditional water harvesting and storage technique) over 4 years, from 2015 to 2018. Results showed that slope is the most controlling factor of soil loss. The average annual soil loss in monitoring sites varies between 0.01 and 12.5 t/ha/y. The storm events inducing the largest soil losses occurred in the upstream part of the Koutine catchment with a maximum value of 7.3 t/ha per event. Soil erosion is highly affected by initial and preceding soil conditions. The RUSLE model reasonably reproduced (R2 = 0.81) the spatiotemporal variability of measured soil losses in the study catchment during the observation period. This study revealed the importance of using the cisterns in the data-scarce dry areas as a substitute for the classic soil erosion monitoring fields. Besides, combining modeling of outputs and field measurements could improve our physical understanding of soil erosion processes and their controlling factors in an arid catchment. The study results are beneficial for decision-makers to evaluate the existing soil conservation and water management plans, which can be further adjusted using appropriate soil erosion mitigation options based on scientific evidence.

scholarly journals Assessment of land cover on soil erosion in Lam Phra Phloeng watershed by USLE model

2018 ◽  
Vol 192 ◽  
pp. 02017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jatuwat Wattanasetpong ◽  
Uma Seeboonruang ◽  
Uba Sirikaew ◽  
Walter Chen
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Cover ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Surface Erosion ◽  
Agricultural Field ◽  
Land Cover Data

Soil loss due to surface erosion has been a global problem not just for developing countries but also for developed countries. One of the factors that have greatest impact on soil erosion is land cover. The purpose of this study is to estimate the long-term average annual soil erosion in the Lam Phra Phloeng watershed, Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand with different source of land cover by using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and GIS (30 m grid cells) to calculate the six erosion factors (R, K, L, S, C, and P) of USLE. Land use data are from Land Development Department (LDD) and ESA Climate Change Initiative (ESA/CCI) in 2015. The result of this study show that mean soil erosion by using land cover from ESA/CCI is less than LDD (29.16 and 64.29 ton/ha/year respectively) because soil erosion mostly occurred in the agricultural field and LDD is a local department that survey land use in Thailand thus land cover data from this department have more details than ESA/CCI.

COMPARISON OF MEASURED SOIL 137-CESIUM LOSSES AND EROSION RATES

1987 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 199-203 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. KACHANOSKI
Keyword(s):  
Atmospheric Deposition ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Accurate Method ◽  
Soil Samples ◽  
Deposition Rates ◽  
Southern Ontario ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Soil Losses ◽  
Runoff Plots

Atmospheric deposition rates of 90Sr and analysis of soil samples from non-eroded sites indicated base levels of total soil 137Cs were approximately 2700 Bq m−2 in southern Ontario in 1985. Measured 137Cs losses (1965–1976) from long-term runoff plots were significantly correlated to measured soil losses during the same period. Monitoring temporal changes in soil 137Cs should be an accurate method of estimating soil loss in southern Ontario. Key words: Soil loss, 137Cs, Ontario, runoff plots

scholarly journals Soil loss by water erosion in areas under maize and jack beans intercropped and monocultures

2014 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Luiz Terra Lima ◽  
Marx Leandro Naves Silva ◽  
Nilton Curi ◽  
John Quinton
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Soil Management ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Water Erosion ◽  
Management Systems ◽  
Water Runoff ◽  
Jack Bean ◽  
Favorable Conditions ◽  
Soil Losses

Adequate soil management can create favorable conditions to reduce erosion and water runoff, consequently increase water soil recharge. Among management systems intercropping is highly used, especially for medium and small farmers. It is a system where two or more crops with different architectures and vegetative cycles are explored simultaneously at the same location. This research investigated the effects of maize intercropped with jack bean on soil losses due to water erosion, estimate C factor of Universal Soil Losses Equation (USLE) and how it can be affected by soil coverage. The results obtained also contribute to database generation, important to model and estimate soil erosion. Total soil loss by erosion caused by natural rain, at Lavras, Minas Gerais, Brazil, were: 4.20, 1.86, 1.38 and 1.14 Mg ha-1, respectively, for bare soil, maize, jack bean and the intercropping of both species, during evaluated period. Values of C factor of USLE were: 0.039, 0.054 and 0.077 Mg ha Mg-1 ha-1 for maize, jack bean and intercropping between both crops, respectively. Maize presented lower vegetation cover index, followed by jack beans and consortium of the studied species. Intercropping between species showed greater potential on soil erosion control, since its cultivation resulted in lower soil losses than single crops cultivation, and this aspect is really important for small and medium farmers in the studied region.

scholarly journals Modelisation Du Risque D’érosion Hydrique Par L’équation Universelle Des Pertes En Terre Dans Le Rif Occidental: Cas Du Bassin Versant De Moulay Bouchta (Maroc)

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 524 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anis Zouagui ◽  
Mohamed Sabir ◽  
Mustapha Naimi ◽  
Mohamed Chikhaoui ◽  
Moncef Benmansour
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Erosion Rate ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Land Development ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Slope Length ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Effect Of Support ◽  
Soil Losses

Soil erosion causes many environmental and socio-economic problems: loss of biodiversity, decrease in the productivity of agricultural land, siltation of dams and increased risk of flooding. It is therefore essential to establish a detailed evaluation of this process before any spatial planning. To evaluate the effects of soil erosion spatially and quantitatively in order to face this phenomenon, and propose the best conservation and land development strategies, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) coupled with a geographic information system (GIS) is applied. This model is a multiplication of the five erosion factors: the erosivity of the rain, the erodibility of the soil, the inclination and the slope length, the vegetation cover and the anti-erosion practices. The study area is the Moulay Bouchta watershed (7 889 ha), which is located in the western part of the Rif Mountains, is characterized by a complex and contrasting landscape. The resulting soil loss map shows an average erosion rate of 39.5 (t/ha/yr), 87% of the basin has an erosion rate above the tolerance threshold for soil loss (7 (t/ha/yr)). Soil losses per subbasin range from 16.2 to 81.4 (t/ha/yr). The amount of eroded soil is estimated at 311,591 (t/yr), corresponding to a specific degradation of 12.1 (t/ha/yr). In the absence of any erosion control, 25% of the soil losses would reach the new dam located a little upstream of the basin outlet, reducing its water mobilization capacity to 59,625 (m3/yr). The application of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to soil erosion factors shows a significant influence of topographic factor (LS) on soil erosion process, followed by the effect of support practices (P), then by soil erodibility (K).

Exploiting Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) to assess ongoing and future soil erosion over Italy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guido Rianna ◽  
Monia Santini ◽  
Marco Mancini ◽  
Roberta Padulano ◽  
Sergio Noce
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Web Application ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
Time Step ◽  
R Factor ◽  
Data Store ◽  
Daily Time Step ◽  
Soil Losses ◽  
Daily Time

&lt;p&gt;Soil erosion by water greatly affects Italy impacted by 24% of total soil loss of Europe, 33% of agricultural lands exposed, and costs, e.g. for crop production, up to about 600Meuro. Furthermore, expected increases in severity and magnitude of extreme precipitation events could exacerbate such an issue.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this regard, rainfall information at very fine spatial and temporal resolution represents a key point; unfortunately, weather stations are not spread uniformly across regions and they uncommonly provide free data at sub-daily scale. Moreover, the reliable projections of how rainfall will change in the coming decades are hard to store and manage for non-experts.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In trying to overcome such a gap, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) provides several tools. The C3S is part of the Copernicus Earth Observation Programme and is implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Commission. In particular, Climate Data Store (CDS) hosts rainfall time series for the historical period and most recent decades from observational (E-OBS) and reanalysis (ERA5, ERA5-Land, UERRA) datasets, at (sub) daily time step and with horizontal resolution ranging from 31 km to 5.5 km. For the future, the simulations&amp;#8217; ensemble within EURO-CORDEX (resolution ~12 km, daily time step) are available for robust evaluations, i.e. to consider the uncertainty due to alternative greenhouse gas concentration scenarios and model chain used.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In this context, in the last months, C3S funded the Demo Case SOIL EROSION implemented by the CMCC Foundation and aimed at assessing ongoing and future soil loss by water erosion over Italy. The Demo Case is expected to develop further specific datasets and a web-application by exploiting products and tools also provided by Climate Data Store (CDS) infrastructure.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To assess soil losses, the largely adopted Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is selected. Such an empirical equation combines rainfall erosivity (R-factor), evaluated in this case by exploiting datasets in CDS, to soil susceptibility to erosion due to soil intrinsic properties but also to land cover, land management, and topography. Gridded datasets related to R-factor and soil losses will be then made available within the CDS catalog. Moreover, the web application will permit visualizing and retrieving trends and results for specific areas (e.g. NUTS) in the way of maps and graphs. In addition to the &quot;Basic&quot; mode, the Application is expected to support &quot;what-if&quot; analysis (&quot;Advanced&quot; mode) permitting to understand how variations in land use (C-factor) or management practice (P-factor) can influence soil losses at large scale under current and future conditions.&lt;/p&gt;

scholarly journals Effects of Long-Term Crop-Livestock-Forestry Systems on Soil Erosion and Water Infiltration in a Brazilian Cerrado Site

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jullian Souza Sone ◽  
Paulo T. Sanches de Oliveira ◽  
Pedro A. Pereira Zamboni ◽  
Nelson O. Motta Vieira ◽  
Glauber Altrão Carvalho ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Bare Soil ◽  
Water Infiltration ◽  
Land Uses ◽  
Brazilian Cerrado ◽  
No Till ◽  
One Year

Integrating agricultural land uses is a suitable alternative for fostering economic development and improving food security. However, the effects of long-term integrated systems on soil erosion and water infiltration are still poorly understood. Here, we investigate the influence of different agricultural land uses on soil erosion and water infiltration in an Oxisol site located in the Brazilian Cerrado region. The experimental area consisted of continuous grazing under variable stocking rates with regular fertilization (CG-RF), continuous cropping under no-till (CC-NT) and no-till with 4-year subsoiling (CC-SS), rotation of one year cropping and three years livestock in the livestock phase (C1-L3), rotation of four years cropping and four years livestock in the cropping phase (CL-4C) and in the livestock phase (CL-4L), and integrated crop-livestock-forestry in the cropping phase (CLF-C) and in the livestock phase (CLF-L). To evaluate water infiltration and soil loss, we used a rainfall simulator with a constant rainfall intensity of 74.9 ± 3.6 mm h−1 in plots of 0.7 m2. We carried out 72 rainfall simulations comprising four repetitions in each treatment under vegetation and bare soil. Stable infiltration rate (SIR) ranged from 45.9 to 74.8 mm h−1 and 19.4 to 70.8 mm h−1 under vegetation covers and bare soil, respectively. Our findings indicated that SIR values under CLF-C were 60% greater than under CG-RF. We also found that soil loss rates under CLF-C were 50% smaller than under CG-RF. The crop–livestock rotation period that presented better results of SIR and soil loss was one year of cropping and three years of livestock (C1-L3). Overall, we noted that SIR and soil loss values under CLF-C are similar to the Cerrado native vegetation. Therefore, our study reveals the opportunity to increase agricultural production, improve food supply, and reduce soil erosion with adequate soil and agricultural management.

scholarly journals High natural erosion rates are the backdrop for present-day soil erosion in the agricultural Middle Hills of Nepal

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-387 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. West ◽  
M. Arnold ◽  
G. AumaÎtre ◽  
D. L. Bourlès ◽  
K. Keddadouche ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Soil Loss ◽  
Mass Wasting ◽  
Catchment Scale ◽  
Erosion Rates ◽  
Denudation Rates ◽  
Soil Production ◽  
The Himalaya

Abstract. Although agriculturally accelerated soil erosion is implicated in the unsustainable environmental degradation of mountain environments, such as in the Himalaya, the effects of land use can be challenging to quantify in many mountain settings because of the high and variable natural background rates of erosion. In this study, we present new long-term denudation rates, derived from cosmogenic 10Be analysis of quartz in river sediment from the Likhu Khola, a small agricultural river basin in the Middle Hills of central Nepal. Calculated long-term denudation rates, which reflect background natural erosion processes over 1000+ years prior to agricultural intensification, are similar to present-day sediment yields and to soil loss rates from terraces that are well maintained. Similarity in short- and long-term catchment-wide erosion rates for the Likhu is consistent with data from elsewhere in the Nepal Middle Hills but contrasts with the very large increases in short-term erosion rates seen in agricultural catchments in other steep mountain settings. Our results suggest that the large sediment fluxes exported from the Likhu and other Middle Hills rivers in the Himalaya are derived in large part from natural processes, rather than from soil erosion as a result of agricultural activity. Catchment-scale erosional fluxes may be similar over short and long timescales if both are dominated by mass wasting sources such as gullies, landslides, and debris flows (e.g., as is evident in the landslide-dominated Khudi Khola of the Nepal High Himalaya, based on compiled data). As a consequence, simple comparison of catchment-scale fluxes will not necessarily pinpoint land use effects on soils where these are only a small part of the total erosion budget, unless rates of mass wasting are also considered. Estimates of the mass wasting contribution to erosion in the Likhu imply catchment-averaged soil production rates on the order of ~ 0.25–0.35 mm yr−1, though rates of mass wasting are poorly constrained. The deficit between our best estimates for soil production rates and measurements of soil loss rates supports conclusions from previous studies that terraced agriculture in the Likhu may not be associated with a large systematic soil deficit, at least when terraces are well maintained, but that poorly managed terraces, forest, and scrubland may lead to rapid depletion of soil resources.

scholarly journals Estimation of Soil Losses in a Slope Area of Tokat Province through USLE and WEPP Model

2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 1838
Author(s):  
Saniye Demir ◽  
İrfan Oğuz ◽  
Erhan Özer
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Land Use Changes ◽  
Land Use Type ◽  
Numerical Estimation ◽  
Pasture Land ◽  
Cultivation Practices ◽  
Fruit Orchard ◽  
Soil Losses

Tokat is one of the developing provinces in terms of urbanism. Therefore, the land use changes city-wide which closely affects soil erosion. Numerical estimation of soil erosion is very important to prevent soil losses. In this study, USLE and WEPP Hillslope model were used to estimate the long-term soil losses in a slope area which used to be a pasture land and then turned into a fruit orchard in Büyükbeybağı area of Tokat province. Erosion sensitivity of the soil in the slope area was detected to be very low. Erosivity value of the area is low, soil is resistant to erosion due to pasture land use type and fruit orchard use type does not require intense soil cultivation practices. For all these reasons, both estimation technologies estimated soil losses of the land to be low.

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