Erosion and sedimentation on the Russian Plain, II: the history of erosion and sedimentation during the period of intensive agriculture

Abstract

Abstract The processes of sheet, rill and gully erosion on the slopes of the Russian Plain are controlled by the same factors as elsewhere: cover, erodibility, erosivity and landform. The combination of land‐use history and variations in these bio‐physical factors produced a history of erosion that is unique to this area. The most eroded soils occur in the Non‐Black Earth area, especially where there are soddy‐podzolic soils. Over the entire Russian Plain, 99 × 10 9 m 3 of soil have been lost from the slopes since AD 1696. On the arable land, a layer <10 cm thick has been lost from 82% of the area, a layer 10–20 cm thick has been removed from 11% of the area, and on about 1% of the area >40 cm has been eroded. About 2 × 10 6 gullies more than 300 m in length have formed during the last 300 years, mobilizing about 4 × 10 9 m 3 of sediment. About 97% of this vast amount of soil has been redeposited on the plain rather than transported to the oceans. The effect of the sediment on stream channels has been greatest in the headwaters, where large numbers of low‐order channels have been completely infilled. Up to 5·6 m of sediment has accumulated in some of these small valleys. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.