AbstractWater erosion starts with raindrops impact. Raindrop impact (which reflects the erosivity of precipitation) has been treated as independent mechanism with respect to the constitution of primary particles and stability of soil aggregate (which characterizes soil erodibility), but they interact; even volumetric soil water content may affect
the process as well as the amount of soil loss from splash erosion. This study uses waterdrop generator to study the
splash erosion at different volumetric soil water contents and soil properties. Results indicate that amount of splash
erosion is highly correlated with waterdrop diameters, modified particle-size parameter, volumetric soil water content,and water aggregate stability. A splash erosion estimation equation was developed, in which all principal physical parameters were embedded, the adjusted coefficient of determination R2 reaches 0.804, and all parameters reach statistic significant level.
Key Words: Splash erosion, Waterdrop diameter, Volumetric soil water content, Soil properties, Water aggregate
stability |