Effect of Soil Properties on Runoff and Sediment Yield in Farm Scale (Case study: a part of Sari town,s neighboring Croplands)

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Abstract

Soil characteristics are important variables in runoff and soil erosion processes. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate some variables affecting runoff and soil erosion, in agricultural lands located around Sari town. Systematic sampling was done at 60 points with 20 m intervals. Also, rain was generated using a rainfall simulator. For all simulated rains the intensity and duration were set at 2 millimeters per minute and 15 minutes, respectively. Soil samples were collected from adjacent points to the rainfall simulator from depth of 0-30 cm. Results showed that soil moisture, organic matter, sand percentage and bulk density had the most influences on runoff generation with 0.56, 0.40, 0.29 and 0.28 values of correlation coefficients, respectively. Organic matter and clay content had the greatest effect on soil loss from croplands with 0.303 and 0.30 values of correlation coefficient, respectively. The results of multiple linear regression models showed that runoff and soil erosion could be predicted based on percentages of soil,s organic matter, moisture and clay content variables with coefficients of determination of 0.493 and 0.71, respectively.

Keywords