Search results for "soil conservation."

Using the ARP-03 for high-resolution mapping of calcic horizons

2013

A b s t r a c t. The aim of this work is to present a fast and cheap method for high-resolution mapping of calcic horizons in vineyards based on geoelectrical proximal sensing. The study area, 45 ha located in southern Sicily (Italy), was characterized by an old, partially dismantled marine terrace and soils with a calcic horizon at different depths. The geoelectrical investigation consisted of a survey of the soil electrical resistivity recorded with the Automatic Resistivity Profiling-03 sensor. The electrical resistivity values at three pseudo-depths, 0-50, 0-100 and 0-170 cm, were spatialized by means of ordinary kriging. A principal component analysis of the three electrical resistivit…

Effects of climate, land cover and topography on soil erosion risk in a semiarid basin of the Andes

2016

Understanding soil erosion processes in the Ecuadorian Andes with a tropical wet-dry climate and a variable topography, is fundamental for research on agriculture sustainable, environmental management, as well as for a stable water supply for the local populations. This work proposes method to estimate soil erosion risk in the semiarid Catamayo basin with limited data. The results show that the rainfall distribution and the erosivity along with the rugged topography, followed by the land cover (C-factor), are the most important factors to estimate soil erosion risk. The soil erodibility is the most important factor in the dry season for agricultural areas and where the ground cover is spars…

Soil erosion and agriculture

2009

Role of rock fragment cover on runoff generation and sediment yield in tilled vineyards

2017

Summary The soil in conventional Mediterranean vineyards is an active and non-sustainable source of sediment and water. Lack of vegetation cover, small soil organic matter content and intense ploughing result in large rates of erosion in a millennia-old tillage system. There is a need for soil conservation strategies that enable sustainability of wine and grape production; therefore, it is essential to measure the rates and to investigate the processes and factors of soil erosion. This study evaluated factors that can reduce soil losses in traditional Mediterranean vineyards. The investigation was carried out with 96 rainfall simulation experiments at the pedon scale (0.24 m2) to measure so…

Properties and erosional response of soils in a degraded ecosystem in Crete (Greece)

2013

To study desertification processes relating to soil erosion, a climatological and altitudinal gradient from south to north was selected in Crete (Greece) and four locations were selected along the gradient. At the locations precipitation ranged from 1400 mm/year at the highest location to 400 mm/year at the lowest. All locations are affected by the actual land use: intensive grazing, small controlled fires, and abandoned agricultural terraces. Representative soil profiles were described in the field and analyzed in the laboratory, and rainfall simulation experiments in the field measured soil erosion over different soil surfaces and land uses. Data on physical and chemical properties were o…

Shrubland as a soil and water conservation agent in Mediterranean-type ecosystems

2015

John Thornes found that shrubland was a key factor in the control of soil erosion on Mediterranean hillsides. His research inspired many scientists to investigate the impact of shrubland changes and management in semi-arid ecosystems. An example of Professor Thornes’ scientific influence is the experiment carried out on the El Teularet–Sierra de Enguera experimental station since 2003 which showed erosion rates on a 30-year-old abandoned orchard with dense vegetation cover of Ulex parviflorus and Cistus albidus and a 20-year-old fire-affected maquia with Quercus coccifera, Pistacia lentiscus and Juniperus oxycedrus. The measurements demonstrated that the shrubs help create more stable soil …

Predicting unit plot soil loss in Sicily, south Italy

2008

Predicting soil loss is necessary to establish soil conservation measures. Variability of soil and hydrological parameters complicates mathematical simulation of soil erosion processes. Methods for predicting unit plot soil loss in Sicily were developed by using 5 years of data from replicated plots. At first, the variability of the soil water content, runoff, and unit plot soil loss values collected at fixed dates or after an erosive event was investigated. The applicability of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was then tested. Finally, a method to predict event soil loss was developed. Measurement variability decreased as the mean increased above a threshold value but it was low als…

Water erosion susceptibility mapping by applying Stochastic Gradient Treeboost to the Imera Meridionale River Basin (Sicily, Italy)

2016

Abstract Soil erosion by water constitutes a serious problem affecting various countries. In the last few years, a number of studies have adopted statistical approaches for erosion susceptibility zonation. In this study, the Stochastic Gradient Treeboost (SGT) was tested as a multivariate statistical tool for exploring, analyzing and predicting the spatial occurrence of rill–interrill erosion and gully erosion. This technique implements the stochastic gradient boosting algorithm with a tree-based method. The study area is a 9.5 km 2 river catchment located in central-northern Sicily (Italy), where water erosion processes are prevalent, and affect the agricultural productivity of local commu…

Estimating the USLE soil erodibility factor in Sicily, South Italy

2012

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is used by professionals and technicians to predict soil loss by water erosion and to establish soil conservation measures. One of the key elements of the USLE is the K factor, which is a measure of the soil erodibility. Given the difficulty in collecting sufficient data to adequately measure K, early in the USLE's history the soil erodibility nomograph method was developed to allow estimation of K based on standard soil properties. Since the nomograph approach was developed based on a small number of soils in the United States, it is necessary for other contexts to check the nomograph's ability to predict the soil's true erodibility. Considering that…

Exploring the influence of vegetation cover, sediment storage capacity and channel dimensions on stone check dam conditions and effectiveness in a la…

2018

Abstract Check dams are widely used for soil conservation at the watershed scale. When structurally sound, these engineering control works retain sediment as planned. However, there is limited information describing the influence of site characteristics on post-construction condition including structural stability and sediment retention capacity. More specifically, the effects of channel morphology, check dam geometry and vegetation characteristics as potentially influencing factors on sediment retention capacity at the watershed level are poorly understood. Thus, an investigation applying field and remotely sensed measurements, multi-regression models, redundancy and sensitivity analysis, …