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Rainfall, runoff and erosion on bare arable soils in east Shropshire, England
Author(s) -
Fullen Michael A.,
Reed Alan Harrison
Publication year - 1986
Publication title -
earth surface processes and landforms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.294
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1096-9837
pISSN - 0197-9337
DOI - 10.1002/esp.3290110407
Subject(s) - surface runoff , erosion , storm , soil water , hydrology (agriculture) , arable land , environmental science , geology , convective storm detection , soil science , geomorphology , oceanography , geography , geotechnical engineering , ecology , archaeology , biology , agriculture
The magnitude, frequency, and duration of erosive rainfall on bare arable soils is investigated within an area of sandy soils in east Shropshire. Rainfall parameters are compared with runoff and erosion from ten 25 m 2 runoff plots, maintained in a bare condition on slopes of varying steepness. On rain‐drop compacted (capped) soils measured erosion rates of ≦ 42.7t ha −1 occur during individual storms. Erosion rates increase markedly with slope and on slopes > ˜ 13° are largely attributable to rill erosion. Prolonged duration, low intensity events cause relatively little erosion; most is accomplished by short duration, high intensity (> 10 mm h −1 ) convective rainstorms. Comparison of measured erosion‐producing events and long‐term rainfall records indicate that potentially erosive storms are quite frequent, and are most likely to cause erosion in late spring/early summer.