Water harvesting and infiltration in arid areas affected by surface crust: examples from Jordan

Water harvesting potential in function of hillslope characteristics: A case study from the Sierra de Gador (Almeria province, south-east Spain)

“…Some studies at the hillslope and catchment scale show that the spatial variability of surface characteristics and hence the hydrological response at the outlet of the catchment are difficult to predict (Bergkamp et al, 1996;Bryan and Yair, 1982;Cerda`et al, 1995;Puigdefabregas, 2005;Yair and Lavee, 1985). This is not surprising since the continuity of runoff pathways through the catchment has been shown to depend on the interaction between a range of factors such as rainfall characteristics (Descheemaeker et al, 2006), soil surface conditions (Abu-Awwad and Shatanawi, 1997;Sole´-Benet et al, 1997), stoniness (Van Wesemael et al, 2000) and vegetation cover (Bergkamp et al, 1998;Puigdefabregas, 2005). Furthermore, the soil moisture content has been shown to act as threshold for runoff generation (Cammeraat, 2004;Ceballos and Schnabel, 1998;Fitzjohn et al, 1998).…”

Analysis of runoff generation and soil erosion processes by using environmental radionuclides in semiarid areas of Mongolia

“…However, grassland vegetation has been reported to have decreased recently due to overgrazing by an increasing number of livestock (Chuluun and Ojima, 2001). In general, the soil in a semiarid area has low organic content and a large percentage of silt portions, which results in a high susceptibility to soil crusting (Abu-Awwad and Shatanawi, 1997). The decrease in grassland vegetation may increase the raindrop impact on the soil surface, splash erosion, and susceptibility to surface sealing, thereby causing enhanced water erosion (Fredrickson et al, 1998;Manzano and Navar, 2000).…”

Spatial assessment of conjunctive water harvesting potential in watershed systems

“…Moreover, large scale practical implementation of water harvesting research results via extension activities poses a great challenge (Kronen, 1994). The siting of these water collection structures depends on a multitude of factors, ranging from basic hydrologic characteristics of the local area (Giráldez et al, 1988;Abu-Awwad and Shatanawi, 1997) to the socioeconomic interests of the government or local authorities, various interest groups and shareholders of a potential project (Srivastava, 1996).…”