Simulation of Runoff for Varying Mulch Coverage on a Sloped Surface

2013 ◽  
Vol 409-410 ◽  
pp. 339-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su Fang Cui ◽  
Ying Hua Pan ◽  
Quan Yuan Wu ◽  
Zhen Hua Zhang ◽  
Bao Xiang Zhang

The use of thin plastic film to cover slope surfaces can lead to slope runoff and soil erosion in Loess hilly areas in northwest China. Three main factors (slope, rainfall intensity, and coverage ratio) were selected to analyze variations in runoff dynamics for a Lou soil surface and to obtain a theoretical foundation for practical application. The results indicate that for a fixed rainfall intensity and coverage ratio, a critical slope gradient close to 26.8% was observed. For a fixed coverage ratio and slope gradient, the cumulative runoff volume increased with the rainfall intensity. Overland flow varied with the coverage ratio and this can be attributed to increases in the cumulative runoff volume and runoff velocity with increasing coverage ratio. The experimental results show that for double-ridge cultivation with film mulching, the best coverage ratio is 50:150. This ratio not only reduces moisture evaporation and promotes soil conservation, but also effectively improves rainwater utilization and reduces soil erosion. In addition, for slope gradients exceeding 26.8%, runoff decreases and the soil infiltration capacity increases, so a slope gradient of 26.836.4% is optimal for the local cultivation model.

1999 ◽  
Vol 39 (12) ◽  
pp. 41-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. I. Fraser ◽  
T. R. Harrod ◽  
P. M. Haygarth

Soil erosion, in the form of transported suspended sediment in overland flow, is often associated with high rates of particulate phosphorus (PP) (total P>0.45 μm) transfer from land to watercourses. Particulate P may provide a long-term source of P for aquatic biota. Twenty-two sites for winter overland flow monitoring were selected in south-west England within fields ranging from 0.2–3.8 ha on conventionally-managed arable land. Fields were situated on highly porous, light textured soils, lacking impermeable horizons and often overlying major aquifers. Long arable use and modern cultivation methods result in these soils capping under rain impact. Overland flow was observed when rainfall intensity approached the modest rate of 0.8 mm hr−1 on land at or near to field capacity. Low intensity rainfall (<2 mm hr−1) produced mean suspended sediment losses of 14 kg ha−1 hr−1, with associated PP transfer rates of 16 g ha−1 hr−1. In high intensity rainfall (>9 mm hr−1) mean PP losses of 319 g ha−1 hr−1 leaving the field were observed. As might be expected, there was a good relationship between PP and suspended sediment transfer in overland flow leaving the sites. The capacity of light soils to cap when in arable use, combined with heavy or prolonged rainfall, resulted in substantial discharges, soil erosion and associated PP transfer. Storms with heavy rain, typically of only a few hours duration, were characterised by considerable losses of PP. Such events, with return periods of once or twice a winter, may account for a significant proportion of total annual P transfer from agricultural soils under arable crops. However, contributions from less intense rain with much longer duration (around 100 hours per winter in many arable districts of the UK) are also demonstrated here.


Soil Research ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 109 ◽  
Author(s):  
MJ Singer ◽  
PH Walker

The 20-100 mm portion of a yellow podzolic soil (Albaqualf) from the Ginninderra Experiment Station (A.C.T.) was used in a rainfall simulator and flume facility to elucidate the interactions between raindrop impact, overland water flow and straw cover as they affect soil erosion. A replicated factorial design compared soil loss in splash and runoff from 50 and 100 mm h-1 rainfall, the equivalent of 100 mm h-1 overland flow, and 50 and 100 mm h-1 rainfall plus the equivalent of 100 mm h-' overland flow, all at 0, 40 and 80% straw cover on a 9% slope. As rainfall intensity increased, soil loss in splash and runoff increased. Within cover levels, the effect of added overland flow was to decrease splash but to increase total soil loss. This is due to an interaction between raindrops and runoff which produces a powerful detaching and transporting mechanism within the flow known as rain-flow transportation. Airsplash is reduced, in part, because of the changes in splash characteristics which accompany changes in depths of runoff water. Rain-flow transportation accounted for at least 64% of soil transport in the experiment and airsplash accounted for no more than 25% of soil transport The effects of rainfall, overland flow and cover treatments, rather than being additive, were found to correlate with a natural log transform of the soil loss data.


Landslides ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 2631-2641
Author(s):  
Francis K. Rengers ◽  
Luke A. McGuire ◽  
Nina S. Oakley ◽  
Jason W. Kean ◽  
Dennis M. Staley ◽  
...  

Abstract In the semiarid Southwestern USA, wildfires are commonly followed by runoff-generated debris flows because wildfires remove vegetation and ground cover, which reduces soil infiltration capacity and increases soil erodibility. At a study site in Southern California, we initially observed runoff-generated debris flows in the first year following fire. However, at the same site three years after the fire, the mass-wasting response to a long-duration rainstorm with high rainfall intensity peaks was shallow landsliding rather than runoff-generated debris flows. Moreover, the same storm caused landslides on unburned hillslopes as well as on slopes burned 5 years prior to the storm and areas burned by successive wildfires, 10 years and 3 years before the rainstorm. The landslide density was the highest on the hillslopes that had burned 3 years beforehand, and the hillslopes burned 5 years prior to the storm had low landslide densities, similar to unburned areas. We also found that reburning (i.e., two wildfires within the past 10 years) had little influence on landslide density. Our results indicate that landscape susceptibility to shallow landslides might return to that of unburned conditions after as little as 5 years of vegetation recovery. Moreover, most of the landslide activity was on steep, equatorial-facing slopes that receive higher solar radiation and had slower rates of vegetation regrowth, which further implicates vegetation as a controlling factor on post-fire landslide susceptibility. Finally, the total volume of sediment mobilized by the year 3 landslides was much smaller than the year 1 runoff-generated debris flows, and the landslides were orders of magnitude less mobile than the runoff-generated debris flows.


2018 ◽  
Vol 229 ◽  
pp. 04016
Author(s):  
Aprisal ◽  
Bambang Istijono ◽  
Reski Permata Sari

One of the hazards of the erosion is soil infiltration capacity is decreased in the place of occurrence of erosion and increasing the volume of surface flow. It will also lead to the occurrence of the superficiality of the river due to the deposition of materials of soil erosion. These hazards need alternative agrotechnology which could reduce the rate of soil erosion. This research is to know the hazard of soil erosion in the upper watershed of the Aie Limau Kambiang and find out the alternative agrotechnology for reducing the soil erosion. This research was conducted. Soil samples collected was taken in purposive random sampling based on a unit of land. The data were analyzed using the universal soil loss equation. The research results of the largest erosion threat come from the land use of traditional gardens and plant density is low. The highest erosion 151,012.00 ton/ha/year was founded on the plantation blended that have a steep slope over 35% LS value of 9.5. The better of agrotechnology with increasing plant density, that could reduce erosion to 503.40 ton/ha/year. This means that the hazard of soil erosion could be controlled with land management and selected of the better agrotechnology.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 ◽  
pp. 1-14
Author(s):  
Bingqin Zhao ◽  
Lun Zhang ◽  
Zhenyao Xia ◽  
Wennian Xu ◽  
Lu Xia ◽  
...  

Rainfall events coupled with shallow and gravelly sloping farmland have led to serious soil erosion and associated problems in the Three Gorges reservoir. Previous studies have shown that the use of vegetation is an effective way to control soil erosion. Therefore, an artificial, simulated rainfall experiment study is conducted to determine the effect of rainfall intensity and vegetation cover on runoff volume, sediment load, and runoff hydraulics characteristics. The experiment consists of seven vegetation treatments subjected to three rainfall intensities on a soil that contains rock fragments on a slope of 30°. The results indicate that the runoff volume and sediment load of the bare plot were greater than those of vegetation-covered plots under three different rainfall intensities. When Cynodon dactylon and Indigofera amblyantha were applied together, the plot displayed the best performance for soil loss control, with a reduction of 87.88%–99.11%. According to a redundancy analysis, the change in rainfall intensity had the least impact on the Reynolds number and the runoff volume of the herb-shrub mixed plot in this study. These findings suggest that the effect of combining Cynodon dactylon and Indigofera amblyantha and increasing the vegetation coverage is an effective solution for soil and water loss conservation. The application of this method can alleviate environmental stress on the Three Gorges reservoir.


1993 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 95 ◽  
Author(s):  
RA Shakesby ◽  
CDA Coelho ◽  
AD Ferreira ◽  
JP Terry ◽  
RPD Walsh

The Agueda Basin, north-central Portugal is comparatively wet (rainfall, 1600-1800 mm/yr) with frequent, relatively large storms in autumn and winter yet the summer drought is sufficiently long and consistent for frequent forest wildfires. This paper discusses wildfire impacts in such a wet Mediterranean environment on soil hydrophobicity, infiltration capacity, overland flow coefficients, soil loss, rainsplash detachment and small-scale ground level changes for Eucalyptus globulus and Pinus pinaster forest: (1) 0-2 years after fire ('new' burn); (2) 3-4 years after fire ('old' burn); and (3) 'mature' (or long unburnt) sites. For 'new' burn sites, rainsplash detachment rates are an order of magnitude and soil losses two orders of magnitude higher than for 'old' burn sites and both are two orders of magnitude higher than for 'mature' sites. Soils are hydrophobic in all three categories of sites, but infiltration capacities are lower at 'new' burn and 'old' burn than at 'mature' sites. Overland flow coefficients on long unburnt sites were low while on burnt sites they were high and tended to be higher for summer and autumn than for winter and spring, implying enhanced hydrophobicity under summer drought conditions, causing decreased infiltration capacity and increased overland flow. The distinctiveness of fire effects on soil erosion and hydrology in this wet Mediterranean environment and implications for post-fire management are discussed.


2016 ◽  
Vol 64 (3) ◽  
pp. 237-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Qian ◽  
Dongbin Cheng ◽  
Wenfeng Ding ◽  
Jiesheng Huang ◽  
Jingjun Liu

Abstract Hydrological processes play important roles in soil erosion processes of the hillslopes. This study was conducted to investigate the hydrological processes and the associated erosional responses on the purple soil slope. Based on a comprehensive survey of the Wangjiaqiao watershed in the Three Gorges Reservoir, four typical slope gradients (5°, 10°, 15°and 20°) were applied to five rainfall intensities (0.6, 1.1, 1.61, 2.12 and 2.54 mm·min-1). The results showed that both surface and subsurface runoff varied greatly depending on the rainfall intensity and slope gradient. Surface runoff volume was 48.1 to 280.1 times of that for subsurface runoff. The critical slope gradient was about 10°. The sediment yield rate increased with increases in both rainfall intensity and slope gradient, while the effect of rainfall intensity on the sediment yield rate was greater than slope gradient. There was a good linear relationship between sediment yield rate and Reynolds numbers, flow velocity and stream power, while Froude numbers, Darcy-Weisbach and Manning friction coefficients were not good hydraulic indicators of the sediment yield rate of purple soil erosion. Among the three good indicators (Re, v and w), stream power was the best predictor of sediment yield rate (R2 = 0.884). Finally, based on the power regression relationship between sediment yield rate, runoff rate, slope gradient and rainfall intensity, an erosion model was proposed to predict the purple soil erosion (R2 = 0.897). The results can help us to understand the relationship between flow hydraulics and sediment generation of slope erosion and offer useful data for the building of erosion model in purple soil.


Solid Earth ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 985-995 ◽  
Author(s):  
Q. Dai ◽  
Z. Liu ◽  
H. Shao ◽  
Z. Yang

Abstract. The influence on soil erosion by different bedrock bareness ratios, different rainfall intensities, different underground pore fissure degrees and rainfall duration are researched through manual simulation of microrelief characteristics of karst bare slopes and underground karst crack construction in combination with artificial simulation of rainfall experiment. The results show that firstly, when the rainfall intensity is small (30 and 50 mm h−1), no bottom load loss is produced on the surface, and surface runoff, underground runoff and sediment production are increased with the increasing of rainfall intensity. Secondly, surface runoff and sediment production reduced with increased underground pore fissure degree, while underground runoff and sediment production increased. Thirdly, raindrops hit the surface, forming a crust with rainfall duration. The formation of crusts increases surface runoff erosion and reduces soil infiltration rate. This formation also increases surface-runoff-erosion-damaged crust and increased soil seepage rate. Raindrops continued to hit the surface, leading the formation of crust. Soil permeability showed volatility which was from reduction to increases, reduction, and so on. Surface and subsurface runoff were volatile with rainfall duration. Fourthly, when rock bareness ratio is 50 % and rainfall intensities are 30 and 50 mm h−1, runoff is not produced on the surface, and the slope runoff and sediment production present a fluctuating change with increased rock bareness ratio. Fifthly, the correlation degree between the slope runoff and sediment production and all factors are as follows: rainfall intensity-rainfall duration-underground pore fissure degree–bedrock bareness ratio.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 745-753
Author(s):  
Toru Danjo ◽  
◽  
Tomohiro Ishizawa

The infiltration of rainfall into a slope surface may affect slope stability; thus, it is important to understand the amount of rainfall infiltration (hereafter referred to as the “infiltration capacity”) for a slope surface layer when evaluating slope stability. This research focuses on slope gradient, a factor affecting the infiltration capacity, and performs two types of water-spraying experiments using pit sand under the same conditions but with different slope gradients. In the first experiment, the surface flow rate and soil loss were measured using an earth-tank model with a horizontal distance of 0.5 m, depth of 0.1 m, and width of 0.2 m to form slope gradients of 2°, 20°, and 40° to clarify the effect of slope gradient on the infiltration capacity. In the second experiment, a water-spraying experiment that closely simulated natural rainfall was performed at a large-scale rainfall facility owned by the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED), Japan. This experiment used an earth-tank model with a horizontal distance of 1.21 m, depth of 0.5 m, and width of 0.5 m to form slope gradients of 2°, 10°, 20°, 30°, and 40° with the aim of proposing a quantitative evaluation method for the relationship between the slope gradient and infiltration capacity. The results showed that the soil loss and infiltration capacity increased as the slope gradient increased in the case of the pit sand used in the experiments. This was confirmed to be due to the fact that an increased gradient allowed grains with diameters of <50 μm in the slope surface layer to flow out easily, thereby increasing the infiltration capacity. In addition, the relationship between the rainfall intensity and infiltration capacity revealed that the infiltration capacity varied depending on the rainfall intensity and slope gradient, which is unlike the relationship for constant values such as the permeability coefficient. Moreover, the research findings indicated a strong, positive linear relationship (R2 = 0.98) between the slope gradient and fitting factor Ic. Therefore, the relationship between rainfall intensity and the infiltration capacity could be expressed using the fitting factor Ic. This suggests the possibility of quantitatively evaluating the relationships between rainfall intensity, the infiltration slope gradient, and the infiltration capacity.


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