As an alternative land use of savanna areas in Roraima, commercial forest stands of Acacia mangium are being increasingly implemented. The purpose of this study was the in situ determination of soil and water losses in commercial stands of Acacia mangium and compare them with those under native savanna. The experiment was conducted on a Red-Yellow Argisol (Ultisol) in the region of Serra da Lua where Gerlach sediment and water collectors were installed. Soil density, texture, penetration resistance and infiltration […]

Considering that Brazil and many other countries with tropical ecosystems need to enhance methods of embankment cover, it is necessary to study the enhancement of available erosion control means. The study objective was to evaluate the efficiency of three commercial erosion mats: MacMat®, Fibrax® and Tela Biotêxtil® in rainfall surface erosion protection. The experiment was carried out between December 2003 and March 2004 on an embankment of a road section in Viçosa, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Surface runoff from the […]

In regions of temperate and subtropical humid climate in Brazil, below the parallel of 24° latitude South, the rainfall characteristics potentially exceed the soil water infiltration rate and produce runoff, at any time of the year, independent of soil use and management system. The additional conservational practices have not been fully adopted in the no-tillage system as it would be required to control the erosion potential due to the soil conditions of these regions. Runoff results in chemically enriched sediments, […]

The methodology cesium-137 was used to assess soil erosion and deposition rates in a small watershed with varied crops, at 23º16′ S and 51º17′ W, in a district of Cambé, Paraná State, Brazil. A theoretical equation which considers soil loss or gain directly proportional to the cesium-137 redistribution was utilized in this study. In the watershed, soil redistribution was assessed by transect sampling, and the regional input of cesium-137 by radioactive rainfall determined based on samples from a point in the native […]

This study analyses the correlations among erosivity parameters and soil losses, between June 24, 1979 and October 10, 1994, in an Oxisol from the Unidade de Execução de Pesquisa de Âmbito Estadual at Dourados – EMBRAPA, Southern Mato Grosso, Brazil. Rainfall erosivity, runoff, and rainfall-runoff parameters were analysed through simple and multiple linear regression and nonlinear regression, to: (a) define an erosivity parameter for individual storms, aiming to improve the use of the USLE at that site; (b) obtain the […]

A set of 874 erosive individual rainfall occurrences was selected from a continuous serie of twenty-three years of recording rain gauge data. All the selected rainfall occurrences were analized. The rainfall erosivity factor computed was 7074 MJ mm ha-1 h-1 y-1, which is expected to occur at least once every 2.33 years, with a probability of occurrence of 42.92%. The values of the annual erosivity indexes at that site expected for the return periods of 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, and 100 years, were respectively 6,696, 8,730, 10,076, […]

The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of spectral reflectance in the detection of different erosion levels present in soils. Four soils, corresponding to a Red-Yellow Latosol (Oxisol), Latosolic Terra Roxa Estruturada (Ultisol), Cambisol (Inceptisol) and Vertisol, located in a toposequence in Piracicaba, São Paulo, Brazil, were evaluated for their chemical, physical and mineralogical attributes. The spectral reflectance was measured between 400 and 2,500 nm using an Infra Red Intelligent Spectroradiometer. Each soil was collected according to […]