RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Improvement in soil loss estimation in USLE type experiments
JF Journal of Soil and Water Conservation
FD Soil and Water Conservation Society
SP 223
OP 229
VO 61
IS 4
A1 C.A.A. Ciesiolka
A1 B. Yu
A1 C.W. Rose
A1 H. Ghadiri
A1 D. Lang
A1 C. Rosewell
YR 2006
UL http://www.jswconline.org/content/61/4/223.abstract
AB Soil erosion experimentation around the world commonly uses field runoff plots from which runoff and soil loss are collected. The volume of the collected water-sediment mixture is usually so great that sub-sampling techniques are required to estimate total soil loss in any erosion event. It has been shown that the commonly used method involving a collection box or tank, agitation of the water-sediment mixture and then sub-sampling can lead to serious under-estimation of total soil loss. The various possible sources of this error are investigated. For the error due to the unavoidable short time delay between completion of sediment stirring and sample collection, a simple practical method of correction based on settling theory is described and illustrated for four different soil types. Application of this correction requires measurement or estimation of the time delay, and of the soil's settling velocity characteristics.