Land degradation by soil erosion and sedimentation within Sarata catchment, Republic of Moldova

<div>Land degradation by geomorphological processes (soil erosion, gully erosion, landslides and</div><div>sedimentation) represents an important environmental threat all over the Republic of Moldova.</div><div>The main causes are related to the favourable natural conditions such as friable lithology,</div><div>typically hilly fragmentation or climatic aggressiveness on the background of a sustained human</div><div>impact developed in the last two centuries. Despite the widespread soil and water conservation</div><div>measures that have been implemented during the soviet period, following the Agricultural Real</div><div>Estate Act applied in 1991, a revival of these processes is easier to observe especially by means</div><div>of floodplains aggradation. Under these circumstances, our study aims to assess the</div><div>sedimentation rates on the floodplains and reservoirs and to establish the source area of the</div><div>eroded sediments as well as the responsible process. Based on field campaigns, we took</div><div>representative in-situ soil / sediment samples from floodplains and reservoirs all over the Sarata</div><div>catchment, including wind-blown samples from the intefluvial ridges. The laboratory analyses</div><div>consisted of physical and chemical features such as: weight, apparent density, texture, ph,</div><div>electrical conductibility, total organic carbon, inorganic carbon, organic matter, inorganic</div><div>nitrogen (N), total phosphorus (P), total potassium (K) and other macro elements (i.e. Na+,</div><div>Mg2+, Ca2+, and Cl-). The preliminary results show that the soil erosion remains an important</div><div>process not by quantity but by quality. This is related also to the widespread high efficiency of</div><div>gully erosion control measures that have been implemented. A secondary role, most often</div><div>neglected, is held by wind erosion</div>