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.

Effect of tillage systems and tillage direction on soil hydrological properties and soil suspended particle concentration in arable land in Uganda

“…(2001) in northern China, reported a 1.5–1.6 times higher infiltration rate under NT than under CT for a period of 3 years. The lower IR under CT and DT could be attributed to the disruptions in the soil aggregate; which exposed the soil to the impact of the direct raindrops ( Abu-Hamdeh et al., 2006 ; Glanville and Smith, 1988 ). Badalikova and Hrubý (2006) and Badalíková (2010) argued that soil tillage systems considerably affect soil permeability by changing the volume of pores, aggregate stability and soil structure, thus affecting the infiltration rate.…”

Legume Grasslands Promote Precipitation Infiltration better than Gramineous Grasslands in arid Regions

“…Different grasslands cover and roots distribution may result in modification of soil properties and then have a vital effect on infiltration (Angers & Caron, 1998;Vervoort et al, 2001;Wang et al, 2007;Bormann & Klaassen, 2008;Zhao et al, 2013;Yu et al, 2015). Many studies have found that the main soil properties influencing soil infiltration by grassland types were bulk density (BD) (Neris et al, 2012), soil organic matters (SOMs) (Hu et al, 2009), initial water content (Wang et al, 2007), soil aggregation (Abu-Hamdeh et al, 2006), porosity (Kodešová et al, 2011), macropores (Wahl et al, 2003;Weiler & Naef, 2003) and saturated hydraulic conductivity (Alaoui et al, 2011). The steady infiltration rate (SIR) is significantly and logarithmically correlated with SOMs and macroaggregate (Franzluebbers, 2002;Zhao et al, 2013).…”

Effects of vegetation restoration on the aggregate stability and distribution of aggregate-associated organic carbon in a typical karst gorge region

“…Good soil structures provide solid foundations for the storage and stabilization of organic carbon (Jastrow, 1996;Mao et al, 2007;Gelaw, 2013). The particle sizes of aggregates affect their abilities to store organic carbon as well as the distributions of their stored organic carbon components (Abu-Hamdeh et al, 2005;Liu and He, 2009). The distribution and stability of soil aggregates is closely related to the erosion resistance of soil and, therefore, are effective indicators of erosion sensitivity (Guo et al, 2007;Rachman et Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union.…”