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The Effect of Cultivation on Erodibility of Soils by Wind
Author(s) -
Chepil W. S.,
Englehorn C. L.,
Zingg A. W.
Publication year - 1952
Publication title -
soil science society of america journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.836
H-Index - 168
eISSN - 1435-0661
pISSN - 0361-5995
DOI - 10.2136/sssaj1952.03615995001600010007x
Subject(s) - topsoil , aeolian processes , environmental science , erosion , soil water , crop , crop residue , agronomy , organic matter , agriculture , agricultural land , land degradation , soil science , agroforestry , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , biology , ecology , paleontology , geotechnical engineering , geomorphology
Physical and chemical analyses of the soil samples chosen at random from over 90 fields from western Kansas during 1949 and 1950 were made to determine the rates of soil deterioration that are associated with the type of agriculture employed since the breaking of the virgin sod. In land that has been utilized for grain production for 19 years about 9 inches of topsoil, constituting all of the A horizon, has been removed, mainly by wind erosion. This land is now much less productive and contains substantially less organic matter and less undecomposed crop residues than the newly broken land. Due to lower amounts of crop residue this “old” cultivated land is more exposed to erosion by wind and water. The soil itself, however, is more resistant to erosion now than when it was first brought under cultivation, due to the presence at the surface of the finer textured and more structurally developed soil of the original B horizon. When the protective influence of crop residues was discounted, the old cultivated land was found to be less than half as erodible as land broken out of virgin sod between 1946 and 1948. With crop failures such as occur on all types of land in dry years, the recently broken land would apparently become most vulnerable to erosion by wind.