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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Morris, Minnesota » Soil Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #97258
Title: SOIL EROSION: A COMBINED ANALYSIS OF TILLAGE AND WATER EROSION OVER A COMPLEX LANDSCAPE

Author
item Lindstrom, Michael
item SCHUMACHER, T - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV.
item LOBB, D - UNIVERSITY OF MONCTON
item SCHUMACHER, J - SOUTH DAKOTA STATE UNIV.

Submitted to: International Soil Conservation Organization Conference Abstracts
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/28/1999
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soil erosion prediction analyses have changed considerably in the past decade. The development of RUSLE and WEPP for water erosion prediction along with RWEQ and WEPS for wind erosion represent major advances in soil erosion prediction systems. Soil translocation through tillage operations is also an important erosion producing agent which has not been adequately considered. It has been documented that soil translocation by tillage produces annual soil erosion rates from specific landscape positions that can greatly exceed soil loss tolerance levels. It is our objective to characterize soil erosion over a field transect considering both water and tillage erosion from an annual tillage sequence of moldboard plowing and two discing operations at specific landscape positions over a 40-year period. The field transect, 800 m in length, was constructed to include topographic features common to western Minnesota and eastern North Dakota. Analysis for water erosion will be simulated using WEPP, whereas, tillage erosion will be determined from empirically determined soil translocation rates as a function of slope gradients in the direction of tillage for individual hillslope segments with dimensions of 1 m by 1 m. Results from this analysis will identify specific field locations where water or tillage are the predominate erosive agents but also demonstrate the interaction between the two processes. Tillage erosion rates up to 55-t ha**-1 yr**-1 were identified at abrupt convex slope positions representing a 16-cm loss in soil over the 40-year period. Water erosion was most predominate in steep backslope positions with maximum slope gradients. Deposition of eroded soil occurred in concave slope positions for both erosion processes.