Relation of Soil Properties to its Erodibility

TLDR

Soil erodibility, a key factor in erosion prediction and land‑use planning, depends on infiltration capacity and resistance to detachment and transport by rainfall and runoff. The study investigated how infiltration and detachment/transport capacities relate to soil physical and chemical properties across 55 Corn Belt soils over five years. The authors derived an empirical equation to calculate the universal soil‑loss equation’s erodibility factor K for specific soils. Significant contributors to soil‑loss variance were sand, silt, clay, organic matter, pH, structure, bulk density, slope geometry, pore space, sod crop effects, aggregation, parent material, and their interactions, and the derived equation was validated against older erosion‑research stations, confirming its broad applicability to medium‑textured soils.

Abstract

Abstract A soil's inherent erodibility, which is a major factor in erosion prediction and land‐use planning, is a complex property dependent both on its infiltration capacity and on its capacity to resist detachment and transport by rainfall and runoff. The relations of these capacities to soil physical and chemical properties were investigated in a 5‐year field, laboratory, and statistical study including 55 selected Corn Belt soils. Properties that contributed significantly to soil‐loss variance included percentages of sand, silt, clay, and organic matter; pH, structure and bulk density of plow layer and subsoil; steepness and concavity or convexity of slope; pore space filled by air; residual effects of sod crops; aggregation; parent material; and various interactions of these variables. An empirical equation was derived for calculating the universal soil‐loss equation's erodibility factor K for specific soils. Tests of the equation against soils of the older erosion‐research stations, for which the erodibility factor is known, substantiated its general applicability over a broad range of medium‐textured soils.