THE RATE OF WATER EROSION AND ITS RELATION TO SOIL COVERAGE BY GRAVEL AND NATURAL VEGETATION | ||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||
| Article 2, Volume 29, Issue 10, October 2004, Pages 5965-5971 PDF (2.12 M) | ||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2004.243818 | ||
| Authors | ||
| A. A. Ali,; S. F. T. Sharkawy; M. M. Wassif | ||
| Soil Cons. Dept., Desert Res., Mataria-Cairo, Egypt | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Two Field experiments were carried out in Wadi-Maged, west Matrouh city, North Western Coastal Zone of Egypt (NWCZ), under natural rainfall conditions, during winter seasons 2001-2002 and 2002-2003, to evaluate the rate of water soil erosion under different percentages of gravel or natural vegetation cover. Soils of Wadi-Maged are mainly sandy loam in texture with shallow profile. Soil cover by gravel or natural vegetation showed great potential for erosion control on sloped area. The obtained results revealed that the depths of natural rainfall through the two successive winter seasons were 123.1 and 118.3mm. The lowest runoff value and amount of soil loss were observed for 25% natural vegetation cover and 20% gravel mulch treatments. The average annual soil loss was 4.87ton.ha-1 for bare soil treatment, while it reaches 2.41 ton.ha" for 25% vegetation mulch treatment. The average annual soil losses were 2.81, 2.17 and 1.59ton.ha-1 for 5, 10 and 20% gravel mulch of the soil surface, respectively. Leaving natural vegetation and gravels at 25 and 10%, respectively, on the surface of cultivated slopped soils in NWCZ areas led to decrease runoff and soil loss (wash erosion) values by approximately 50%. Data indicate that the significant relationship between average annual soil loss (y, ton.ha") or average annual runoff ~y, mm) and soil cover by gravel (X, %) are fitted with the exponential equation: (Y=ab ). The results from this study demonstrate the extreme variability of erosion measurements. This variability severely limits the usefulness of the data for determining percentage of soil surface coverage needed to achieve a given level of erosion control. Further studies are needed to define the relationship between soil cover by natural vegetation and soil loss under the NWCZ conditions, Egypt. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| Water erosion; rainfall; runoff; soil loss; natural vegetation; gravel; North Western Coast Zone of Egypt (NWCZ) | ||
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