Soil Conservation Through Sediment Trapping: A Review

Abstract

Preventing the off‐site effects of soil erosion is an essential part of good catchment management. Most efforts are in the form of on‐site soil and water conservation measures. However, sediment trapping can be an alternative (additional) measure to prevent the negative off‐site effects of soil erosion. Therefore, not all efforts should focus solely on on‐site soil conservation but also on the safe routing of sediment‐laden flows and on creating sites and conditions where sediment can be trapped. Sediment trapping can be applied on‐site and off‐site and involves both vegetative and structural measures. This paper provides an extensive review of scientific journal articles, case studies and other reports that have assessed soil conservation efforts and the sediment trapping efficacy (STE) of vegetative and structural measures. The review is further illustrated through participatory field observation and stakeholders' interview. Vegetation type and integration of two or more measures are important factors influencing STE. In this review, the STE of most measures was evaluated either individually or in such combinations. In real landscape situations, it is not only important to select the most efficient erosion control measures but also to determine their optimum location in the catchment. Hence, there is a need for research that shows a more integrated determination of STE at catchment scale. If integrated measures are implemented at the most appropriate spatial locations within a catchment where they can disconnect landscape units from each other, they will decrease runoff velocity and sediment transport and, subsequently, reduce downstream flooding and sedimentation problems. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Rainfall simulation and Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry for the analysis of soil water erosion in Mediterranean vineyards

“…1) (Bisantino et al, 2015;Keesstra et al, 2016;Novara et al, 2016;Prosdocimi et al, 2016c). However, to reduce the high soil erosion rates, more conservation-minded soil management practices have also been used such as mulching (Cerdà et al, 2015;Costantini et al, 2015;Jordán et al, 2011;Prosdocimi et al, 2016bProsdocimi et al, , 2016c, cover crops (Novara et al, 2011), rock fragments (Blavet et al, 2009), natural grassing (Grimaldi et al, 2015;Mekonnen et al, 2015a;Mekuria et al, 2016;Raclot et al, 2009) and geotextiles (Giménez Morera et al, 2010;Mekonnen et al, 2015b;Mengistu et al, 2016). Furthermore, new approaches to evaluate incentives for the adoption of agri-environment measures in degraded and eroded vineyards have been implemented (Galati et al, 2015) and mulching is one of those successful strategies (Prosdocimi et al, 2016c).…”

Sustaining reservoir use through sediment trapping in NW Ethiopia

“…On-site sediment trapping measures can trap sediment and thus limit sediment export from agricultural fields Lambrechts et al, 2014;Mekonnen et al, 2014b). Grass barriers are among the many on-site measures that play a significant role in trapping sediments from overland flow (Ritsema, 2003;Blanco-Canqui et al, 2004;McKergow et al, 2004;Stroosnijder, 2009;Wanyama et al, 2012).…”

“…Sediment trapping was found to be effective when structural and vegetative measures combined together (Mekonnen et al, 2014b). Erktan et al (2013) investigated the role of morphological diversity of plant barriers in sediment trapping and found that grass barriers performed best in trapping sediment however, the morphological diversity was significantly impaired by STE.…”

“…to reduce erosion and trap the sediment within the sub-catchment before it reaches the SSDs. According to Mekonnen et al (2014b) the integration of on-site and off-site sediment trapping measures at the catchment scale, is believed to be the most effective in helping to increase the STE of the measures and thereby reducing sediment loads at the outlet of the catchment.…”

“…This is because of sediment filtration and deposition (Dillaha et al, 1989), upslope ponding (Meyer et al, 1995;Spaan et al, 2005), and decreased flow velocity and increased surface roughness, which decreases sediment transport capacity of surface runoff (Borin et al, 2005). Grass barriers also increase the efficacy of physical soil conservation structures in trapping sediment and reducing on-site soil loss when combined together (Rachman et al, 2008;Zhang et al, 2010b;Mekonnen et al, 2014b) and are less expensive and less labour intensive to implement than physical structures such as trenches and ridges. As a co-benefit, grass barriers provide livestock with feed and this can play an important role in controlling free grazing, encouraging a cut and carry system for soil conservation and in the adoption of the measures (MoA, 2001;MOARD, 2010).…”