This study aims to elucidate the relative importance of geological characteristics, soil slope, and rainfall intensity in relation to soil erosion. To this end, indoor rainfall simulation experiments were carried out under different conditions of rainfall intensities, soil slope, and geological characteristics. The test results show that the factors affect soil erosion in the order of soil slope > rainfall intensity > organic content in the soil. Erosion rates were proportional to rainfall, and increase with increasing clay content. Therefore, the soil erosion rate increases strongly with increasing organic content and clay content. The results show that the soil erosion rate in areas of metamorphic rocks shows a marked increase compared with areas of steep slope and sedimentary rocks. These results indicate that the geological characteristics to produce soil are closely related to sedimentation before and after erosion, providing basic information for the development of models to predict soil erosion rates.
The water-table fluctuation (WTF) method has been often used for estimating groundwater recharge by analysis of waterlevel measurements in observation wells. An important assumption inherent in the method is that the water level rise is solely caused by precipitation recharge. For the observation wells located near a stream, however, the water-level can be highly affected by the stream level fluctuations as well as precipitation recharge. Therefore, in applying the WTF method, there should be consideration regarding the effect of stream-aquifer interactions. Analysis of water-level hydrographs from the National Groundwater Monitoring Wells of Korea showed that they could be classified into three different types depending on their responses to either precipitation recharge or stream level fluctuations. A simple groundwater flow model was used to analyze the errors of the WTF method, which were associated with stream-aquifer interactions. Not surprisingly, the model showed that the WTF method could greatly overestimate recharge, when it was used for the observation wells of which the water-level was affected by streams. Therefore, in Korea, where most groundwater hydrographs are acquired from wells nearby a stream, more caution is demanded in applying the WTF method.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.