A new method of “erosion string for monitoring soil erosion: A test of tillage erosion
Monitoring soil erosion is important yet not straightforward. This paper introduced a new method called erosion string and its test procedure of tillage erosion conducted in karst areas of Southwestern China. The test results of 10 times’ tillage on a gentle sloping cultivated land of limestone soil with a slope length of 24.2m and a gradient of 3o showed that the tillage erosion rate at the most upper part of the sloping land was 0.60cm·yr-1. This estimate is consistent with the exposure rate of a rock found in the test field. The estimated tillage flux of 45.98 kg·m-1·yr-1 was also very close to the values derived by the 137Cs, 210Pbex isotope tracing techniques and the small stone tracing method in other places in China. Therefore, the measurement result derived from this test was reliable. The erosion string method has advantages of low-costs, and simple and practicable operation. Once installed, such simple device is also not easy to be stolen or destroyed. This method overcomes the problems of the erosion pins or peg methods in terms of disturbing runoff and wind flow and also ensures the normal operation of tillage. Thus, the erosion string can provide longer time measurements with low material and operation cost. Therefore, it has great potential for monitoring long-term water, wind and tillage erosions. The method is very suitable for studying the changes of soil loss with slope length because it is able to provide point erosion or accumulation rates.
Tillage Erosion Erosion string method Soil loss Accumulation China
Bai Xiaoyong Zhang Xinbao
Key Laboratory of Mountain Environment Evolvement and Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards Key Laboratory of Mountain Environment Evolvement and Regulation, Institute of Mountain Hazards
国际会议
西安
英文
1009-1012
2010-10-11（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）