Open AccessVegetation cover effects on sediment concentration and overland flow under artificial rainfall intensity
Author(s) -
Mounia Boussaadi,
L. Mouzai
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
zbornik radova/zbornik radova - geografski institut "jovan cvijić"
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.16
H-Index - 2
eISSN - 1821-2808
pISSN - 0350-7599
DOI - 10.2298/ijgi2102135b
Subject(s) - surface runoff , vegetation (pathology) , erosion , hydrology (agriculture) , environmental science , sediment , intensity (physics) , flow velocity , soil science , flow (mathematics) , bulk density , geology , soil water , geomorphology , geotechnical engineering , ecology , geometry , mathematics , medicine , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , biology
Soil erosion depends on a number of factors including rainfall intensity, density of plant cover, and area cover. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of these factors on flow velocity, overland flow regimes, sediment concentration, and absolute soil detachment. The soil used in this study was sandy remolded agricultural soil. The soil is packed in a tray of 1 m2 fixed on a slope of 3%; five different intensities were simulated under different vegetation cover (density and area). The results indicated that the overland flow velocity with vegetation cover was best described by polynomial function. The mean flow velocity varied from 0.021 to 1.244 m/s. Overland flow regime is subcritical and laminar. However, there are significant relationships between the vegetation cover density and sediment concentration and absolute soil detachment. The sediment concentration ranged from 1.38 to 5.65 kg/m3 whereas the absolute soil detachment ranged from 0.021?10-3 to 1.244?10-3 kg/m2/s. Finally, the vegetation cover presented a good protector to soil sediment from erosion.