ABSTRACT Although the hydrological importance of water infiltration into the soil and surface runoff is well known, manual measurement of these processes, especially at the plot and hillslope scales, is laborious and requires a trained team. This study aimed to develop prototypes with the tipping bucket principle for the automatic monitoring of surface runoff at a plot scale (14.5 × 3 m). In total, 18 prototypes were built and installed in an experiment with different soil covers. Aspects of the […]

ABSTRACT Identifying sediment sources is fundamental for protecting and improving soil and water quality. Conventional fingerprinting studies have often collected sediments at the overall watershed outlet only, resulting in an important spatial scale dependency. This study aimed to identify and to assess the delivery patterns of sediment sources within three priority sub-catchments (Sapocaji, Piedade and Minas) located in the downstream portion of the Ipojuca River watershed in Brazil. This research would build on understanding sediment sources in the studied watershed […]

ABSTRACT Vegetation cover and soil management influence the magnitude of soil losses. In the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), cover and management are represented by the C factor, as it is the easiest factor to manage to reduce loss of soil and water in agricultural areas. This study aimed to determine the C factor of a succession of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) followed by soybean (Glycine max) under conventional tillage, reduced tillage, and no-tillage. For this, data of soil losses […]

ABSTRACT The Jaguarí River Basin forms the main water supply sources for the São Paulo Metropolitan Region and other cities in the state. Since the kinetic energy of rainfall is the driving force of water erosion, the main cause of land and water degradation, we tested the hypothesis of correlation between the erosive potential of rainfall (erosivity) and geographical coordinates and altitude for the purpose of predicting the spatial and temporal distribution of the rainfall erosivity index (EI30) in the […]

ABSTRACT: Soil is a natural resource that has been affected by human pressures beyond its renewal capacity. For this reason, large agricultural areas that were productive have been abandoned due to soil degradation, mainly caused by the erosion process. The objective of this study was to apply the Universal Soil Loss Equation to generate more recent estimates of soil loss rates for the state of São Paulo using a database with information from medium resolution (30 m). The results showed […]

Erodibility is an important factor for soil loss quantification, representing the processes that regulate water infiltration and soil resistance to the breakdown and transport of particles. Thus, by analyzing the spatial dependence of the principal components of erodibility (K-factor), aimed to estimate soil erodibility in a headwaters area in the watershed Córrego do Tijuco, Monte Alto, SP, and analyze the spatial variability of soil texture variables across the landscape. The mean erodibility of the area was high and the analysis […]

Riparian forests are generally associated to sediment retention and consequently to the mitigation of off-site erosion, but few studies have investigated this effect. The purpose of this study was to analyze the efficiency of riparian forests on the retention of sediment from crop lands using the 137Cs technique. Sampling in an area located in Central Brazil, under intensive cotton farming in a conventional system, was performed in July 2005, using cross-sectional analyses. The 137Cs technique proved adequate for estimating the […]

The crop type and seed row direction in relation to the land slope can modify the total amount and size of runoff-transported sediment. They may alter the relation between organic carbon levels in the sediments and the eroded soil. The current study aimed to quantify the sediment size and proportion transported at constant runoff rate and the organic carbon level in the sediments and the eroded soil, under oat and vetch sown in two row directions. Four simulated rainfalls were […]

Contents of 137Cs have been used to quantify soil loss or accumulations, based on values of reference sites with little soil disturbance in the last decades. In Northeastern Brazil no such sites have been evaluated yet. Three areas with flat topography, native vegetation and undisturbed soil were selected in of Goiana, Araripina and Sertânia counties, state of Pernambuco. Four points in each area were marked at a distance of 20 to 50 m away from each other and soil samples were […]

Erosion is the main cause of soil degradation, and it leads to adverse effects to agriculture and environment, with social and economic implications. The objective of this study was to evaluate soil and nutrient losses in different soil tillage systems in a typic Acric Red-Yellow Latosol (Oxisol). On five plots with the following soil tillage treatments were evaluated: conventional tillage and down-slope tillage (CMA); conventional tillage and contour seeding (CEN); tillage with one passage of heavy disk harrow and one […]