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Effects of Soil Physical Properties, Rainfall Characteristics, and Wind Velocity on Clod Disintegration by Simulated Rainfall
Author(s) -
Lyles Leon,
Disrud L. A.,
Woodruff N. P.
Publication year - 1969
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/sssaj1969.03615995003300020037x
Subject(s) - wind speed , environmental science , intensity (physics) , hydrology (agriculture) , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , geology , geography , geotechnical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics
The effects of clod size and density, rainfall intensity and duration, and wind velocity on clod disintegration by simulated rainfall were studied in a laboratory wind tunnel‐raintower facility. Significant interactions (including those of higher order) were found among the variables studied. Clod bulk density had a minor effect on disintegration. For a specific clod size and wind velocity, 10‐min rains at 5.61 cm/hour were about as destructive as 90‐min rains at 1.60 cm/hour, even though the total volume of rainfall was 2.5 times larger in the latter case. Wind‐driven rain was very effective in clod disintegration. Up to 66% more soil was lost from clods exposed to 13.4‐m/sec winds than from those exposed to no wind for the same rain intensity, duration of exposure, and clod size. Mean drop size striking the clods probably increases with wind velocity and would account for some of the wind effects. Small clods were more susceptible to disintegration by raindrop impact than large clods. Multiple regression analyses indicate about 80 and 89% of the soil detachment variance was accounted for by linear and curvilinear procedures respectively.