Quantification of soil loss from eroded soil phases

K.R. Olson; L.D. Norton; T. E. Fenton; R. Lal

ABSTRACT:

The objective of this review paper is to evaluate methods of identifying eroded phases of a soil and quantifying the amount of soil lost from erosion. The effect of accelerated erosion on soils is recorded on National Cooperative Soil Survey maps as phases of soil series and reflect the percentage of the original A horizon remaining. This definition requires a knowledge of original A horizon thickness prior to cultivation. Erosion classes based on erosion of topsoil underestimate the extent of erosion from both the topsoil and subsoils, particularly where soils have been cultivated for hundreds of years and are severely eroded. For some soils, a major soil classification problem occurs when accelerated erosion affects the diagnostic horizons.

Footnotes

K. R. Olson is an associate profssor, Department of Agronomy, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801. L.D. Norton is a soil scientist USDA-ARS, National Erosion Research Laboratory, W. Lafaette, Indiana, 47906 TE. Fenton is a profssor, Department of Agonomy, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, 50011, and R. Lal is a professor, Department of Agronomy, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, 43210. This study was part of project NC-174, Soil Productivity and Erosion.

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