SPATIAL PATTERN OF SOIL REDISTRIBUTION IN BOROLL LANDSCAPES, SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN, CANADA1

Abstract

The spatial distribution of soil loss and gain in agricultural fields was examined at twenty-one sites in the Boroll soil zone of southern Saskatchewan. The rates of soil loss and gain are assessed using cesium-137 redistribution techniques. The correlations between the rates of soil redistribution and individual slope variables (e.g., gradient and length) are very low. Statistically distinct rates of soil redistribution are, however, associated with three-dimensional landform elements of the slope systems examined. In the aridic and ustic Boroll soil regions the highest rates of soil loss are associated with divergent back-slopes and shoulders; in the udic Boroll zone the highest losses occur on the convergent backslope sites. In all three zones soil gain is concentrated in the convergent footslope elements. The differences in the observed spatial pattern of soil redistribution between the udic Boroll region and the aridic and ustic Boroll regions is attributed to differences in the dominant detachment and transport process in the landscape.