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Land use change effects on runoff and erosion from plot to catchment scale on the basaltic plateau of Southern Brazil
Author(s) -
Dos Reis Castro Nilza Maria,
Auzet AnneVéronique,
Chevallier Pierre,
Leprun JeanClaude
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hydrological processes
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.222
H-Index - 161
eISSN - 1099-1085
pISSN - 0885-6087
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1099-1085(19990815)13:11<1621::aid-hyp831>3.0.co;2-l
Subject(s) - surface runoff , erosion , hydrology (agriculture) , rill , tillage , environmental science , plough , plateau (mathematics) , soil conservation , sediment , soil water , geology , soil science , geomorphology , geography , agriculture , ecology , mathematical analysis , geotechnical engineering , mathematics , archaeology , biology
In the region of the basaltic plateau in Southern Brazil, problems of runoff and erosion on the deep ferrallitic soils are becoming increasingly recognized. Land use change from conventional tillage using disk plough to no‐tillage on residues without terracing occurred at the beginning of the 1990s and it spread very quickly. Measurements of runoff and sediment concentrations on 1 m 2 plots receiving natural rainfall and simulated rainfall under different crops with different stages of growth and different tillage systems, field surveys and measurements of rills and gullies in nested experimental catchments indicate a relative decrease of runoff on slopes but an increase of subsurface flow, and a marked decrease of sheet and rill erosion and soil loss from plot to catchment scales. Nevertheless, the extension of parts of the gully system is still continuing, strongly influenced by extreme rainfall. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.