Soil Erosion in Britain: Updating the Record

Boardman, John

doi:10.3390/agriculture3030418

Cited by 48 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 65 publications

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“…Soil erosion is a naturally occurring environmental process by which soil materials are displaced, transported, and deposited in downstream areas by wind, water, or gravitational forces [1][2][3]. In the context of water-caused soil erosion, removal of soil particles is the result of raindrops, while surface runoff carried out the transportation process [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Woldemariam

Iguala

Tekalign

et al. 2018

Land

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Abstract:Soil erosion by water has accelerated over recent decades due to non-sustainable land use practices resulting in substantial land degradation processes. Spatially explicit information on soil erosion is critical for the development and implementation of appropriate Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures.The objectives of this study were to estimate the magnitude of soil loss rate, assess the change of erosion risk, and elucidate their implication for SWC planning in the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia. Applying remote sensing data, the study first derived the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model parameters in an ArcGIS environment and estimated the soil loss rates. The estimated total soil loss in the watershed was 1,390,130.48 tons in 2000 and 1,022,445.09 tons in 2016 with a mean erosion rate of 51.04 t ha −1 y −1 and 34.26 t ha −1 y −1 , respectively. The study area was divided into eight erosion risk classes ranging from very low to extremely high. We established a change detection matrix of the soil erosion risk classes between 2000 and 2016. The change analysis results have revealed that about 70.80% of the soil erosion risk areas remained unchanged, 19.67% increased in total area, and 9.53% decreased, showing an overall worsening of the situation. We identified and mapped areas with a higher and increasing erosion risk as SWC priority areas using a Multi-criteria Decision Rules (MCDR) method. The top three priority levels marked for the emergency SWC measures account for about 0.04%, 0.49%, and 0.83%, respectively. These priority levels are situated along the steep slope areas in the north, northwest, south, and southeast of the Gobele Watershed. It is, thus, very critical to undertake proper intervention measures in upslope areas based on the priority levels to establish sustainable watershed management in the study area.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Woldemariam

Iguala

Tekalign

et al. 2018

Land

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“…The range of values of soil erosion in the MMF‐TWI model varies between 0 and 5.8 t ha −1 yr −1 , which is consistent with the SSEW study where the range in mean annual values was 0.6–6.8 t ha −1 yr −1 (Evans et al ., ). The SSEW mean soil erosion rates for spring and winter barley are 1.75 and 1.85 m 3 ha −1 yr −1 , respectively (Boardman, ), or 2.3 and 2.4 t ha −1 yr −1 , respectively assuming soil bulk density of 1.3 g cm −3 , while the simulated value is 1.9 t ha −1 yr −1 for spring barley (Table ) and 2.1 t ha −1 yr −1 for winter barley with post‐harvest cover crops. For grassland and woodland areas, no regional published data are available to compare with simulated soil erosion rates.…”

Section: Model Evaluation and Comparisonmentioning

confidence: 98%

A model for catchment soil erosion management in humid agricultural environments

Peñuela

Sellami

Smith

2017

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Intensive agricultural practices have critically contributed to the global increase in soil erosion and sediment fluxes. To reduce the impact of these practices, models able to represent the effect of changes in agricultural land‐use, farming and conservation practices are needed. Moreover, simulations spanning multi‐decadal periods can overcome the potentially confounding influence of climate variability on shorter‐term studies of impacts from agricultural change. Conceptual erosion models, such as the Morgan–Morgan–Finney (MMF) model, allow simulation of soil erosion rates and sediment fluxes over longer periods, while still retaining a general description of runoff and sediment generation processes. In addition, the modified‐MMF (MMMF) model offers improved representation of vegetation cover effects through measurable plant properties. However, as an annual model, the MMF model does not capture seasonal variability in climate, hydrology and land cover. Here, we propose a new model for humid environments based on the MMF model to address its limitations and improve its predictive ability, while retaining its simplicity and low computational and parameterization requirements. This includes monthly computation, representation of catchment hydrology based on delineation of saturated areas according to the topographic wetness index (TWI), and improved representation of ground and vegetation cover effects. The proposed model, MMF‐TWI, was applied in an agricultural catchment in the UK and performance compared to published data and MMMF simulation results. Land cover spatial and temporal variability, crop type as well as farming and conservation practices were found to have a significant influence on simulated sediment yields. Our findings demonstrate: (a) that MMF‐TWI model improves predictive ability compared to the MMMF model in humid environments, (b) the importance of capturing sub‐annual variability in climate, saturated areas and land cover, (c) the ability of MMF‐TWI model to represent impacts from farming and conservation practices, and (d) the potential for MMF‐TWI model to be applied as a soil erosion management tool. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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“…Erosion rates in the UK have been reviewed by Defra (2005b) which indicated median values of net soil loss from arable fields in England as 410 tonnes/km 2 /yr and from English grasslands as 60 tonnes/km 2 /yr. Boardman () reviewed soil erosion in Britain and gives values as high as 4500 tonnes/km 2 /yr for a bare sandy loam compared to values as low as 30 tonnes/km 2 /yr for clay soil under cereals, i.e. limits suggested on gross erosion estimated earlier are very low compared to those observed in the UK.…”

Section: The Net Effect Of Soil Erosion On Greenhouse Gas Emissionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The fluvial flux of particulate organic matter from the UK: the emission factor of soil erosion

Worrall

Burt

Howden

2015

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Soil erosion has been identified as a potential global carbon sink since eroded organic matter is replaced at source and eroded material is readily buried. However, this argument has relied on poor estimates of the total fate of in‐transit particulates and could erroneously imply soil erosion could be encouraged to generate carbon stores. These previous estimates have not considered that organic matter can also be released to the atmosphere as a range of greenhouse gases, not only carbon dioxide (CO2), but also the more powerful greenhouse gases methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O). As soil carbon lost by erosion is only replaced by uptake of CO2, this could represent a considerable imbalance in greenhouse gas warming potential, even if it is not significant in terms of overall carbon flux. This work therefore considers the flux of particulate organic matter through UK rivers with respect to both carbon fluxes and greenhouse gas emissions. The results show that, although emissions to the atmosphere are dominated by CO2, there are also considerable fluxes of CH4 and N2O. The results suggest that soil erosion is a net source of greenhouse gases with median emission factors of 5.5, 4.4 and 0.3 tonnes CO2eq/yr for one tonne of fluvial carbon, gross carbon erosion and gross soil erosion, respectively. This study concludes that gross soil erosion would therefore only be a net sink of both carbon and greenhouse gases if all the following criteria are met: the gross soil erosion rate were very low (<91 tonnes/km2/yr); the eroded carbon were completely replaced by new soil organic matter; and if less than half of the gross erosion made it into the stream network. By establishing the emission factor for soil erosion, it becomes possible to properly account for the benefits of good soil management in minimizing losses of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere as a by‐product of soil erosion. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Soil Erosion in Britain: Updating the Record

Cited by 48 publications

References 65 publications

Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

Spatial Modeling of Soil Erosion Risk and Its Implication for Conservation Planning: the Case of the Gobele Watershed, East Hararghe Zone, Ethiopia

A model for catchment soil erosion management in humid agricultural environments

The fluvial flux of particulate organic matter from the UK: the emission factor of soil erosion

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