Rainfall Parameters Affecting Splash Erosion under Natural Conditions

Applied Sciences

ThomasA. Cochrane¹  David Zumr²  Tomas Dostal²  Martin Neumann²  Peter Strauss³  Nives Zambon⁴  Andreas Klik⁴  Lisbeth Lolk Johannsen⁴ 

[1] Department of Civil and Natural Resources Engineering, University of Canterbury, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand;Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, 166 29 Prague 6, Czech Republic;Institute for Land and Water Management Research, 3252 Petzenkirchen, Austria;Institute for Soil Physics and Rural Water Management, University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, 1190 Vienna, Austria;

关键词: splash erosion;    splash cup;    kinetic energy;    rainfall intensity;    rainfall erosivity;   

DOI  :  10.3390/app10124103

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

The interaction between rainfall erosivity parameters and splash erosion is crucial for describing the soil erosion process; however, it is rarely investigated under natural rainfall conditions. In this study, we conducted splash erosion experiments under natural rainfall on three sites in Central Europe. The main goal was to obtain the relationship between splash erosion of the bare soil in seedbed condition and commonly used rainfall erosivity parameters (kinetic energy, intensity, and rainfall erosivity (EI₃₀)). All sites were equipped with a rain gauge and an optical laser disdrometer where the splash erosion was measured, with modified Morgan splash cups. In order to investigate which parameter best describes the splash erosion process for all sites, a regression analysis was performed. In total, 80 splash erosion events were evaluated. Splash erosion can be described as a linear function of total kinetic energy and a non-linear function of EI_30. However, the use of the total kinetic energy led to underestimation of the splash erosion rates for highly intensive rainfalls. Therefore, better results were obtained when using average rainfall intensity as the splash erosion predictor or the kinetic energy divided by the rainfall duration. Minor differences between the replicates during splash erosion measurements indicate that the modified Morgan splash cup provides a good tool for soil erosion assessment.

【 授权许可】

Unknown