Excerpt
Wind erosion, the detachment, transportation, and deposition of soil material by wind action, is a major problem on sandy soils, including irrigated land (7) in humid areas (5, 6). Abrasion caused by windblown soil grains is extremely injurious to some plant species. Vegetable crops are susceptible to sandblast damage in the seedling growth stage. Sand-blast injury of vegetable crops grown under centerpivot irrigation is a serious problem in the Golden Sands area of Wisconsin.
The Soil Conservation Service (SCS) technical guide contains summarized wind data from nearby cities in the forms of tables and charts. These tables and charts reflect average annual wind conditions based on monthly summaries, and the data they contain are useful for wind erosion control planning during critical wind erosion periods.
Averaged annual wind data, however, do not describe wind erosiveness very accurately when considering the potential frequencies and durations of erosive winds during the critical short-term periods when soils and vegetable crops are highly susceptible to damage. This is due to the fact that monthly or annual data cannot adequately reflect the weekly variations in velocity and direction or their probabilities of occurrence. Therefore, it is inappropriate to assume high-value vegetable crops …
Footnotes
David H. Behm, a former graduate student at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, is presently land use specialist for the Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources, St. Paul, 55107. Ronald F. Hensler is an associate professor of soil science, College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, 54481.
- Copyright 1989 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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