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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #418017
Research Project: Assessment of Sediment and Chemical Transport Processes for Developing and Improving Agricultural Conservation Practices

Location: National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory

Title: Corrigendum to Estimating WEPP cropland erodibility values from soil properties

Author
item ELLIOT, WILLIAM - US Department Of Agriculture (USDA)
item Flanagan, Dennis

Submitted to: Journal of the ASABE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/7/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Soil erosion by water is a substantial problem, both within the United States and throughout the world. Computer simulation models are often used to estimate soil loss, and these models require input values that gauge the susceptibility of a soil to be detached, or its erodibility. In the USDA Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model, there are three erodibility parameters: interrill erodibility, rill erodibility, and critical hydraulic shear stress. This paper provides corrected values for the interrill erodibilities that were reported in a previous journal article in 2023. Data from cropland field experiments on 36 soils were used to determine the correct erodibility values. It is important that WEPP model users apply the correct equations when estimating erodibilites for their specific soils. This research impacts scientists, faculty, students, action agency personnel, and others involved with soil erosion assessments with the WEPP model.

Technical Abstract: In Elliot and Flanagan (2023) the interrill and rill soil erodibility of 36 cropland soils were reported, along with correlations among soil erodibility and other soil properties, and equations to estimate erodibility from readily measured soil properties. Early versions of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model had linked interrill detachment rate to the square of the rainfall intensity and an interrill soil erodibility constant Ki1. By the time the WEPP model was released for general use in 1995, the developers had changed interrill detachment rate to be a function of the product of rainfall intensity and runoff and a different interrill erodibility constant Ki2. The interrill erodibilities (Ki2) with this altered relationship were not the same as Ki1 values developed to support earlier releases of the WEPP model. The authors, when reviewing some of the past literature supporting Elliot and Flanagan (2023), had mistakenly reported Ki2 values when the numbers reported were in fact Ki1 values. Closer examination of the entire data set and the identification of a published source for the correct Ki2 values confirmed this mistake. This corrigendum reports the corrected Ki2 values, the correlation of those revised values with other soil properties, and a confirmation of a 1995 regression equation relating Ki2 to three readily measured soil properties: sand content, very fine sand content and clay content. The coefficient of determination for the 1995 regression equation was 0.80. We recommend that all references to Ki2 in Elliot and Flanagan (2023) be changed to Ki1 except the discussion about the findings of Mirzaee & Ghorbani-Dashtaki (2021), discussion about Ki2 in Alberts et al. (1995), and Equations 2 and A16. A marked up copy of Elliot and Flanagan (2023) showing these changes can be downloaded from https://www.fs.usda.gov/rm/pubs_journals/2023/rmrs_2023_elliot_w001_corr.pdf.