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Predicting Soil Detachment by Raindrops
Author(s) -
Sharma P. P.,
Gupta S. C.,
Foster G. R.
Publication year - 1993
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/sssaj1993.03615995005700030007x
Subject(s) - erosion , intensity (physics) , drop (telecommunication) , nonlinear system , soil science , deposition (geology) , environmental science , plot (graphics) , mechanics , hydrology (agriculture) , geology , geotechnical engineering , sediment , mathematics , physics , geomorphology , optics , statistics , telecommunications , quantum mechanics , computer science
The process of soil erosion by water across a landscape is modeled by mathematically linking the subprocesses of detachment, transport, and deposition of sediments. Contemporary soil erosion models represent the raindrop detachment rate as a nonlinear function of rainfall intensity, the parameters of which have to be experimentally derived from interrill erosion plot data. We describe a model that predicts the rate of soil detachment by multiple raindrops impacting on a bare soil surface. The model depends on parameters of a soil‐strength‐dependent single‐drop detachment model and a bivariate raindrop‐size distribution function. The simulated data is analyzed to represent raindrop detachment rate as a linear and a nonlinear function of intensity. Equations that relate the parameters of soil detachment rate vs. intensity functions to the parameters of the single‐drop detachment model are presented.