Die Bodenkultur - Journal for Land Management, Food and Environment

V. Prasuhn:

Temporal variability of soil erosion – A 10 year analysis of soil erosion damage mapping in the Swiss Midlands

Summary

From 1997 to 2007 soil erosion was measured in the Swiss Plateau on arable land using erosion damage mapping. The investigation area is 263 hectares in size with 203 field plots. Rill erosion features were measured and quantified in 78 field surveys. The quantification of sheet erosion was realised visually. The analysis of the 2030 plot years resulted in a total annual soil loss that varied strongly from year to year (42 to 482 tons of soil). The six largest soil erosion events (7 % of all events) produced more than 100 tons of soil loss each comprising more than 50 % of the total soil loss of all events in the whole period. These six soil erosion events occurred in six different months, were caused by different reasons and affected various crops. Key words: Soil erosion, erosion damage mapping, rainfall variability, R factor, long-term monitoring.