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In the tropical and southern subtropic granite areas of South China, a special kind of small-scale erosional landform is widely distributed, called benggang by the local people. Many natural factors are responsible for the development of benggang, such as lithology, precipitation, relief, vegetation etc., which are discussed in detail in this paper. Study shows that the development of benggangs...
The understanding of fundamental properties of and processes in soils has both agricultural and environmental benefits. Fundamental understanding of soil biology, chemistry, pedology, and physics can be applied to problems of production, environment, and environmental problems caused by production. Although most frequently thought of as agricultural scientists, soil scientists have many roles in...
The susceptibility of seeds of 10 species to be removed by water erosion from an abandoned field and a badland site in SE Spain was determined. Rainfall simulation experiments were conducted over 0.24 m 2 plots for a 22 minute duration, with an intensity of 55 mm · h −1 . A mixture of 24 seeds of each species had been placed in these plots, and the number of seeds lost were measured...
The effect of land use and precipitation on annual runoff and sediment loss was investigated in eight different sites along the northern Mediterranean region and the Atlantic coastline located in Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Greece. These sites represent a variety of landscapes and are under a number of land-uses representative of the Mediterranean region, such as agricultural land with rainfed...
Daily rainfall measurements and microclimatological theory are employed to construct a model of net rainfall, evaporation and surface runoff from north- and south-facing hillslopes in a small basin where soil erosion research was conducted. Soil erosion studies in the area suggest a connection between slope aspect and land use which is simulated from the model. The forest is first changed to low vegetation,...
We analyzed the empirical relationship between plant coverage and sediment ratio curves (SR) at two semi-arid Mediterranean sites (inland Spain). Comparison of b values in the fitted equation (SR = a * e −b *x), with x as % cover) shows a significant difference (P < 0.05) between Rosmarinus officinalis, and an association of lichen and Lygeum spartum. We hypothesize that both the architecture...
Soil surface morphology, soil thickness and their evolution strongly affect infiltration processes. Badland surfaces are characterised by a substantially low plant cover and a reduced soil development controlled by high erosion rates. In the badlands of Tabernas (Almeri´a, SE Spain), the soil surface morphology exhibits a marked spatial variability, caused by different processes under moisture and...
Some earlier studies of erosion of the schist-dominated waste rock dump of Ranger Uranium Mine, Northern Territory, Australia, used turbidity as a surrogate for sediment concentration. Subsequent detailed studies of the turbidity-sediment concentration relation for a number of sites on the waste rock dump, reported in this paper, demonstrate that turbidity cannot be used to accurately predict sediment...
Several studies have documented the severity of recent soil erosion on the Canadian prairies where cultivation started about a century ago. Little quantitative information is available on erosion before 1960. This study attempts to quantify post- and pre-1960 soil erosion in a small cultivated basin near Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, by measuring 137 Cs and magnetic susceptibility...
Physical and chemical soil properties were measured along a mountainous climatological gradient in the province of Alicante (Spain). The objective was to evaluate how the climate affects certain soil properties at different temporal and spatial scales. These properties include infiltration, runoff and sediment concentrations resulting from rainfall simulation experiments performed in winter and in...
Landscape evolution in terrains that have been unaffected by glacial or aeolian erosion, occurs by cycles of deep weathering and stripping. Several factors have been proposed to control these cycles including sea level, climate and tectonics. In this study, a tectonic model of landscape evolution recently developed for Uganda, was tested by detailed study of the weathered mantle. The study involved...
Nutrients sorbed onto eroded sediment from small bounded plots installed in newly burned and unburned Eucalyptus globulus and Pinus pinaster forests in the Agueda Basin, north-central Portugal were measured over an 18-month period. The data are used to determine: (i) the effects of fire on nutrient loss, (ii) the importance of fire-induced losses on soil fertility, and (iii) temporal variations in...
One consequence of global change will be shifts in the probability of occurrence of soil erosion by water. This could have serious consequences for those areas of the world which are present-day `hotspots' for erosion. By means of a case study, this paper suggests an approach to quantifying the change in risk of serious erosion for sites in such areas. The case study focuses on future erosion under...
Erosion of farmland due to concentrated flow is very severe on many unprotected fields across the United States. Small channels can turn into large gullies if not controlled. These small channels are routinely obliterated by tillage of the field and other routine farm operations only to be reformed again. Opposing slopes adjacent to an ephemeral gully allow runoff to reestablish a channel in approximately...
This research integrates the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with a Geographic Information System (GIS) to model erosion potential for soil conservation planning within the Sierra de Manantlan Biosphere Reserve (SMBR), Mexico. Mountainous topography and a tropical uni-modal precipitation regime characterize this region. These unique climatic and topographic characteristics required a...
The objective of this study was to investigate the impacts of logging on landslide activity in Clayoquot Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. A total of 1004 landslides were documented in order to test the hypothesis that areas affected by logging activities show different density, frequency and magnitude characteristics of landsliding than areas unaffected by logging. The...
Flooding and erosion are major hazards in semi-arid areas. As a result of climate and/or land use changes these hazards could increase. Vulnerable areas include the Mediterranean region of southern Europe. As part of the European Union (EU)-funded MEDALUS (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) research programme on impacts of desertification a model to simulate channel changes is being developed...
This paper evaluates and compares runoff and soil erosion measurements from three hillslopes under different land use (abandoned grazing land, burned macchia, and Eucalyptus sp. plantation) in southwest Sardinia, Italy. Data were collected in 18 plots set up on the three hillslopes (six plots for each hillslope), from March 1992 to February 1998.The highest runoff and erosion values, ranging from...
Important land parameters such as soil texture, soil depth, topography, parent material, and climatic conditions were studied in a semi-detailed soil survey conducted in the island of Lesvos, and were related to the vegetation performance and degree of erosion. Rainfall data indicated that the island could be divided into two major climatic zones: a semi-arid (western part) and a dry sub-humid (eastern...
Gullies in the Guadalentin catchment, SE Spain, are formed in a variety of lithologies, ranging from schists to marls. There are clear differences in valley and channel morphology between these two types. Gully erosion in schists produces large amounts of clastic material that restricts sediment transport, leading to a relatively smooth transition from gullies to hillslopes, and to broad alluvial...
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