Revised soil erodibility K-factor for soils in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Abstract:In the territory of the Czech Republic there are more than 50% of agricultural soils exposed to water erosion; it is a very urgent problem both at present and for the future. It must be solved now when there is still something to be protected. It is rather complicated to describe the soil properties in terms of soil susceptibility to water erosion because it is a complex relation in which many factors participate. For the complex evaluation of all main factors participating in erosion origination it is possible to apply the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE). It consists of six factors interacting with each other and participating in the origination of soil erosion. One of these factors is the soil erodibility factor (K-factor), the revision of which for soil conditions of the CR is the subject of this study. In total ca. 5000 soil pits from the whole territory of the country were processed and evaluated in detail. The main results of this study are K-factor values (means and variances) for the soil types, subtypes and varieties (represented in the database) according to the Taxonomic Classification System of Soils of the Czech Republic.

A universal meteorological method to identify potential risk of wind erosion on heavy-textured soils

“…1) were found in the southeast part of the Czech Republic, and there is also a small area in the north-western part of the Czech Republic. These results correspond very well with the fact that wind erosion has been often observed and measured at these localities (Mužíková et al, 2010;Švehlík, 1985;Vopravil et al, 2007). In specific areas, the erosion loss of 2 mm aggregates could be expected.…”

“…Due to alternating freezing and thawing of the soil surface, there occurs a significant collapse of soil structure on Haplic Chernozem (Siltic), Haplic Chernozem (Clayic), Haplic Cambisol (Clayic) (IUSS, 2006;Vopravil et al, 2007) primarily in the winter period, and so soils generally considered as invulnerable to wind erosion (Chepil, 1953) due to grain size, are highly threatened by wind erosion. These represent an anomaly, because heavy-textured soils are generally not susceptible to wind erosion.…”

Application of historical and recent aerial imagery in monitoring water erosion occurrences in Czech highlands

“…The K factor of Cambisols of the field varies from 0.16 to 0.49 t/N (0.26 t/N on average). It was derived from soil bonity vector maps (BPEJ) on a 1 : 5000 scale, using the official relation of Vopravil et al (2007). Apart from the land-use pattern, all parameters were kept constant for different time periods in order to address directly the influence of landscape variability.…”

Estimation of Soil Erosion Using RUSLE Model and GIS Techniques for Conservation Planning from Kulekhani Reservoir Catchment, Nepal

“…The results indicated that soils of watershed are dominated by two types as; Eutric Cambisols and Chromic Cambisols. According to Vopravil et al (2007), soil erodibility value adopted to Eutric Cambisol is 0.32 Mg h MJ −1 mm −1 and average value of 0.33 Mg h MJ −1 mm −1 of Cambisols is adopted for Chromic Cambislos. The soil distribution and soil erodibility map is presented in Fig.…”