Search results for "plot measurements"
showing 7 items of 7 documents
A modified applicative criterion of the physical model concept for evaluating plot soil erosion predictions
2015
Abstract In this paper, the physical model concept by Nearing (1998. Catena 32: 15–22) was assessed. Soil loss data collected on plots of different widths (2–8 m), lengths (11–44 m) and steepnesses (14.9–26.0%), equipped in south and central Italy, were used. Differences in width between plots of given length and steepness determined a lower data correlation and more deviation of the fitted regression line from the identity one. A coefficient of determination between measured, M , and predicted, P , soil losses of 0.77 was representative of the best-case prediction scenario, according to Nearing (1998). The relative differences, Rdiff = ( P − M ) / ( P + M ), decreased in absolute value a…
Flow resistance in mobile bed rills shaped in soils with different texture
2021
Rill erosion is considered one of the most important soil processes because of the large amount of soil loss due to the development of a rill network able to promote an efficient transport of both rill flow-detached particles and those delivered from the inter-rill areas. Rill flow experiments are useful to overcome the gap in rill hydraulics knowledge and to test the reliability of currently applied uniform open channel flow equations for mobile bed rills. In this paper the applicability of a theoretical flow resistance equation, based on a power-velocity profile, to rill channels shaped on soils having different textures was investigated. The measurements (437 runs) of water depth, cross-…
Comparing theoretically supported rainfall-runoff erosivity factors at the Sparacia (South Italy) experimental site
2018
Interpreting rainfall‐runoff erosivity by a process‐oriented scheme allows to conjugate the physical approach to soil loss estimate with the empirical one. Including the effect of runoff in the model permits to distinguish between detachment and transport in the soil erosion process. In this paper, at first, a general definition of the rainfall‐runoff erosivity factor REFe including the power of both event runoff coefficient QR and event rainfall erosivity index EI30 of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is proposed. The REFe factor is applicable to all USLE‐based models (USLE, Modified USLE [USLE‐M] and Modified USLE‐M [USLE‐MM]) and it allows to distinguish between purely empirical m…
Testing the “physical model concept” by soil loss data measured in Sicily
2012
The best possible model to predict the erosion from an area of land has been suggested to be a physical model of the area that has similar soil type, land use, size, shape, slope and erosive inputs. Therefore, a replicated plot has to be considered the best possible, unbiased, real world model. In this paper the physical model concept was tested by using soil loss data collected on plots of different length at the experimental station of Sparacia, in Sicily (South Italy). This investigation supported the conclusions that i) a coefficient of determination between measured and predicted soil loss values of 0.77 has to be considered as the best-case prediction scenario and ii) an uncalibrated …
Testing flow resistance equation for rill flow
2018
At first, in this paper a flow resistance equation for rill flow, deduced applying dimensional analysis and self-similarity theory, is presented. The incomplete self-similarity hypothesis is used for establishing the flow velocity distribution whose integration gives the theoretical expression of the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor. Then the deduced theoretical resistance equation, which is calibrated by some measurements of flow velocity, water depth, cross section area, wetted perimeter and bed slope carried out in 106 reaches of some rills modelled on an experimental plot, is tested using the literature data by Abrahams et al. (1996), Strohmeier et al. (2014) and Peng et al. (2015) for ri…
Testing the Universal Soil Loss Equation-MB equation in plots in Central and South Italy
2019
Planning soil conservation strategies requires predictive techniques at event scale because a large percentage of soil loss over a long-time period is due to relatively few large storms. Considering runoff is expected to improve soil loss predictions and allows relation of the process-oriented approach with the empirical one, furthermore, the effects of detachment and transport on soil erosion processes can be distinguished by a runoff component. In this paper, the empirical model USLE-MB (USLE-M based), including a rainfall-runoff erosivity factor in which the event rainfall erosivity index EI30 of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) multiplies the runoff coefficient QR raised to an ex…
Measuring the USLE soil erodibility factor in the unit plots of Sparacia (southern Italy) experimental area
2022
The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is still widely used to predict soil loss by water erosion and to establish soil conservation measures. In this model, the soil erodibility factor K accounts for the susceptibility of the soil to be eroded due to the detachment and transport processes operated by the erosive agents. According to the USLE scheme, the K factor should be measured on unit plots, i.e., bare plots of given length (22 m) and steepness (9%) tilled along the maximum slope direction, but there is little evidence that there ever existed an actual unit plot between the plots used to develop the USLE. Given the difficulty in collecting sufficient data to adequately measure K, the …