The Effect of Soil Type, Slope, Rain Intensity and Their Interactions on Splash Detachment and Transport

Abstract

From a factorial experiment using a graded sand and three soils (sand, clay loam, and clay), five slopes (0.0, 3.5. 7.0, and 14.0 per cent) and four intensities (50. 80. 110, and 140 mm h-I), splash detachment and splash transport are described in terms of the direct effects and the first and second order interactions of these variables.The graded sand and three soils tested are significantly different in the mean weight of soil detached and transported. They can be placed in rank order of graded sand. sand, clay, and clay loam with increasing resistance to splash detachment. The amount of material transported is in the order of graded sand > clay > sand > clay loam. For each soil there are significant increases in splash detachment and splash transport with increasing rainfall intensity. Both splash parameters are significantly correlated with slope steepness.The most important interactions that influence splash detachment and splash transport are soil x intensity and slope x intensity respectively. Significant interactions show that the factors are not independent of each other; the simple effects of a factor differ, and the magnitude of any simple effect varies according to the level of the other factors of the interaction term. These interactions have not been explicitly studied in previous research on splash erosion.Power equations are established between splash activity and the above variables and reasonable working ranges for the exponents are suggested.

Modelling soil detachment rates in rainfed agrosystems in the south-central Pyrenees

“…The splash detachment rate (F; kg m -2 ) in the MMF model is calculated as: Quansah (1981) and used by De Jong et al (1999). K depends on the particle size distribution of the soil and is adopted from the MMF model guide (Morgan, 2001; Table 3).…”

Statistical and physical analysis of soil detachment by raindrop impact: Rain erosivity indices and threshold energy

“…Experiments with single drop sizes do not reproduce the variations in the frequency of raindrop impacts and the interactions due to simultaneous drops hitting the ground. Quansah [1981] conducted a factorial experiment (soil type, rain intensity, and slope) on splash detachment and transport. The experiments were carried out in the laboratory, and rain was simulated using a nozzle simulator with a rotating disk producing the entire spectrum of raindrop diameters observed in natural rains.…”

La morphogenèse accélérée menace-t-elle les régions rurales de l’ouest du bassin parisien ?

“…L'incision du sol se produit quand la force tractrice du ruissellement dépasse une valeur critique (Birot, 1981 ;Govers, 1991 ;Gilley et al, 1993) qui varie selon la résistance du sol (Quansah, 1985 ;Le Bissonnais et al, 1993). Si la vitesse ne dépasse que de peu la valeur critique, qu'on peut évaluer d'après la courbe de Hjulström (1935) à 20 cm/s pour les sols à texture sableuse, le ruissellement concentré ne creuse que des griffes et des rigoles.…”