Verification of the slope factor in the universal soil loss equation for low slopes

C. E. Murphree; C. K. Mutchler

ABSTRACT:

Soil loss data was collected under simulated rainfall conditions on plots with slopes of 0.1, 0.2, 0.5, 1, 2, and 3 percent. The flatter the slope, the greater the discrepancy between measured soil loss and that predicted by the universal soil loss equation (USLE). This discrepancy presumably was due to the greater surface water depths on the flatter slopes. It should be represented by a correction in the effect of the R-factor in the USLE. This would permit use of the present slope relationships for slopes both less than and greater than 3 percent.

Footnotes

C. E. Murphree is an agricultural engineer and C. K. Mutchler is a research hydraulic engineer at the Sedimentation Laboratory, Science and Education Administration—Agricultural Research, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Oxford, Mississippi 38655.
Copyright 1981 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society

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