Soil erosion and tolerable soil loss: Insights into erosion rates for a well-managed grassland catchment

Hancock, Greg; Wells, T.; Martínez, C.; Dever, C.

doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2014.08.017

Cited by 48 publications

(61 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…Average continental scale erosion rates exceed 4.4, 5, and 1 t/ha/year for Australia, Europe, and North America, respectively (Charman & Murphy, ; Montgomery, ; Panagos et al, ). This presents a major economic issue as these rates of soil loss are estimated to exceed soil production rates by one to three orders of magnitude, therefore, greatly reducing soil productivity (Bui, Hancock, & Wilkinson, ; Charman & Murphy, ; Hancock, Wells, Martinez, & Dever, ; National Land and Water Resources Audit [NLWRA], ). Similarly, excessive sediment delivered to rivers by elevated erosion rates leads to increased turbidity and elevated nutrient contribution, posing an environmental risk (Hancock, Hugo, Webb, & Turner, ; NLWRA, ; Rustomji, Caitcheon, & Hairsine, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Current methods for quantifying soil erosion and sediment export are well developed at the plot, hillslope, and regional scales (i.e., thousands of square kilometres); however, there is an inability to up or downscale these methods for application across catchments that are between these scales (i.e., hundreds of square kilometres). Field‐based methods, such as the use of environmental tracers are labour intensive and work most effectively at the hillslope and small catchment scale (e.g., Hancock et al, ; Hancock, Loughran, Evans, & Balog, ; Martinez, Hancock, & Kalma, ). These methods only quantify erosion however and must be linked with river gauging and monitoring to understand the relationship between erosion, sediment redistribution, and catchment export (Fryirs, Brierley, Preston, & Spencer, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Here, the SedNet model is applied to a 585‐km 2 catchment in the Upper Hunter of NSW, Australia, to link hillslope erosion rates to long‐term sediment export. It forms part of ongoing research into erosion rates, their controls, spatial variation, and the impact of agriculture on soil sustainability across a large catchment in eastern Australia (Hancock et al, ; Martinez et al, ; Wells et al, ). The East Coast of Australia is identified as a separate climate zone to the rest of Australia (Timbal, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, it is typically made up of smaller farms than areas in Queensland and the Murray–Darling basin where much work on sediment loading from agriculture into waterways has been focused (Fentie et al, ; Kinsey‐Henderson et al, ; Wilkinson et al, .). As a result, this study provides a unique opportunity to assess sediment redistribution from the hillslope through to the long‐term sediment load of an upland river system considered to have stable erosion rates (Hancock et al, ). Despite these findings, it is believed that soil loss exceeds soil production, and as a result, suspended sediment loads exceed long‐term levels recommended to maintain riverine health.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Suspended sediment load estimation in an ungauged river in south‐eastern Australia

Gibson

Hancock

2019

River Research & Apps

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Soil erosion poses a significant threat to river health as well as the sustainability of soil resources. Management of this issue requires catchment-specific data to be developed; however, many large catchments are poor in terms of hydrological and sediment transport data. Regional scale (thousands of square kilometres), computerbased modelling methods are a way to generate such data. This study aims to apply the SedNet model to estimate a sediment budget for a 575 km 2 , ungauged, agricultural catchment of south-eastern Australia. The model results are then compared with field measured erosion rates for the catchment, in order to assess the sustainability of soil loss and redistribution across the catchment. SedNet estimated average suspended sediment concentrations between 70 and 120 mg/L, under conditions deemed most representative of the river. These model estimates were comparable with monitoring data, showing suspended sediment concentrations between 30 and 350 mg/L. It was found that soil loss and redistribution across the catchment is low; however, the estimated base sediment loads indicate that river health may be negatively impacted by this. SedNet accurately represented current catchment and river conditions and provided a reliable estimation of sediment yield, demonstrating the ability to estimate sediment loss and redistribution across datapoor catchments using a multifaceted modelling approach. Methodologies, such as the one presented here, offer the ability to better assess the impacts of erosion on sediment loads to develop strategies to effectively manage excess suspended sediment. K E Y W O R D Shydrological model, river health, sediment budget, sediment transport, SedNet, soil erosion, suspended sediment

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Suspended sediment load estimation in an ungauged river in south‐eastern Australia

Gibson

Hancock

2019

River Research & Apps

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“…Most rainwater and soil are transported to underground rivers through the fissures and form soil underground leakage (Peng, Dai, Li, Yuan, & Zhao, ; Peng, Dai, Yang, & Zhao, ). Little runoff and soil loss are observed on the surfaces of karst slopes because of their special soil loss type (Peng & Wang, ), which is obviously different from soil loss in nonkarst regions (Bewket & Teferi, ; Cerdà, Flanagan, & Le Bissonnais, ; Cerdà, Lavee, Romero‐Díaz, Hooke, & Montanarella, ; Hancock, Wells, Martinez, & Dever, ; Meyer, Poesen, Isabirye, Deckers, & Raes, ; Peng, Shi, Jiang, Wang, & Li, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface erosion and underground leakage of yellow soil on slopes in karst regions of southwest China

et al. 2018

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Surface erosion and underground leakage loss simultaneously exist on slopes with a double‐layered structure (surface and underground) and have caused rocky desertification in karst regions. Because of the great difficulty of directly determining the underground leakage loss of soil and water, soil erosion processes in this region remain unclear, especially underground leakage loss. The aim of this study was to reveal the plot‐scale characteristics of surface soil erosion and underground leakage loss of yellow soils on karst slopes. Simulated rainfall tests and field runoff plot monitoring were conducted to achieve this aim. We found that surface erosion formed on steep slopes (30°) or at greater rainfall intensities (over 50 mm hr−1) and that surface runoff and surface soil loss dominated the total runoff and soil loss on karst slopes at greater rainfall intensities. However, underground leakage loss always occurred at different slopes and rainfall intensities. For small rainfall intensity cases (lower than 80 mm hr−1), underground runoff and underground soil leakage loss dominated the total runoff and soil loss and showed an underground runoff ratio of over 90% and an underground soil leakage ratio of over 44%. Rainfall intensity had significant effects on surface runoff depth and surface soil loss rates but an insignificant influence on underground leakage loss. Slope gradient and slope length influenced the runoff yield, and slope degree had a greater effect on the surface soil loss than had slope length. This study improves our understanding of surface erosion and underground leakage loss in karst rocky desertification regions.

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Hillslope and point based soil erosion – an evaluation of a Landscape Evolution Model

Hancock

Wells

Dever

et al. 2019

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Excessive soil erosion and deposition is recognised as a significant land degradation issue. Quantifying soil erosion and deposition is a non‐trivial task. One of these methods has been the mathematical modelling of soil erosion and deposition patterns and the processes that drive them. Here we examine the capability of a landscape evolution model to predict both soil erosion rate and pattern of erosion and deposition. This numerical model (SIBERIA) uses a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) to represent the landscape and calculates erosion and deposition at each grid point in the DEM. To assess field soil redistribution rates (SRR) and patterns the distribution of the environmental tracer 137Cs has been analysed. Net hill slope SRR predicted by SIBERIA (a soil loss rate of 1.7 to 4.3 t ha‐1 yr‐1) were found to be in good agreement with 137Cs based estimates (2.1 – 3.4 t ha‐1 yr‐1) providing confidence in the predictive ability of the model at the hillslope scale. However some differences in predicted erosion/deposition patterns were noted due to historical changes in landscape form (i.e. the addition of a contour bank) and possible causes discussed, as is the finding that soil erosion rates are an order of magnitude higher than likely soil production rates. The finding that SIBERIA can approximate independently quantified erosion and deposition patterns and rates is encouraging, providing confidence in the employment of DEM based models to quantify hillslope erosion rates and demonstrating the potential to upscale for the prediction of whole catchment erosion and deposition. The findings of this study suggest that LEMs can be a reliable alternative to complex and time consuming methods such as that using environmental tracers for the determination of erosion rates. The model and approach demonstrates a new approach to assessing soil erosion that can be employed elsewhere. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Soil erosion and tolerable soil loss: Insights into erosion rates for a well-managed grassland catchment

Cited by 48 publications

References 59 publications

Suspended sediment load estimation in an ungauged river in south‐eastern Australia

Suspended sediment load estimation in an ungauged river in south‐eastern Australia

Surface erosion and underground leakage of yellow soil on slopes in karst regions of southwest China

Hillslope and point based soil erosion – an evaluation of a Landscape Evolution Model

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