Effect of soil aggregate size on infiltration and erosion characteristics

Abstract

Detachment of soil particles by the processes of splash from rainfall and shallow flow from surface runoff is influenced by soil cohesion, soil aggregate properties, and characteristics of this flow. We have evaluated relationships between rates of detachment, aggregate size, and tensile strength of the soil. Soil and water losses were determined in the laboratory from sieved air-dry samples on three aggregate size ranges of two clay loam soils differing in particle-size distribution and organic matter. Tensile strength was measured for each aggregate size range. The results showed that as clod size increased, detachment rates increased and interaggregate tensile strength decreased. Wash erosion increased as initial clod size increased despite a decrease in runoff. Final rates of loss by splash were greater from the largest clods than from the smaller clods. Finally, splashed material was larger in size than material washed off. The fact that the size of the splashed material was larger than washed-off material shows that material in the wash suffered more impact by raindrops and thus was more likely to be fragmented.

Surface soil physical and hydrological characteristics in Bromus tectorum L. (cheatgrass) versus Artemisia tridentata Nutt. (big sagebrush) habitat

“…For example, infiltration and overland flow are typically controlled by soil structure and/or aggregate stability (Debano et al, 1998;Weltz et al, 1998). As soil structure is broken down due to fire, or changed in response to BT invasion, soil could be more or less susceptible to transport by overland flow (Debano et al, 1998;Weltz et al, 1998;Abu-Hamdeh et al, 2006). The loss of soil structure can also decrease surface roughness (Mwendera and Feyen, 1994) (surface micro-topography), which allows water falling on the surface to flow more quickly across the landscape, decreasing infiltration (Debano et al, 1998;Zhang et al, 2007).…”

Particle size and shape variation of Ultisol aggregates affected by abrasion under different transport distances in overland flow

“…breakdown, detachment by splash and transport by overland flow. Several studies have been documented for aggregate breakdown by splash (Legout et al, 2005;Wuddivira et al, 2009) and the effect of different aggregate sizes on infiltration and erosion characteristics under simulated rainfall (Abu-Hamdeh et al, 2006;Lado et al, 2004;Warrington et al, 2009). A number of studies tried to characterize eroded sediments in terms of their effective size distribution consisting of both primary particles (sand, silt, and clay) and soil aggregates (Martinez-Mena et al, 2002;Wang et al, 2014).…”

Influence of Artificial Zeolite and Hydrated Lime Amendments on the Erodibility of an Acidic Soil

“…This increase in large aggregate size was in accordance with the soil aggregate stability as well as the large particle size of the sediment. On the other hand, based on the comparison of the particle-size distribution in the sediment concentration and the total soil loss by splashing, it appears that the soil sediment was more affected by the rainfall energy and the entrainment of overflow than soil loss by rain splash as also reported by Abu-Hamdeh, Abo-Qudais, and Othman (2006).…”