Different land-use intensities and their susceptibility to soil erosion

Abstract

Adaptation is the most important strategy to reduce the effect of climate change and soil erosion. During this process adequate, rational land use is necessary to ensure climate resilience. Therefore, the main objective in this study was to evaluate the susceptibility of different land use intensities (arable land and grassland) to soil erosion. The rainfall simulation method is a good tool to measure and estimate soil erosion in situ. The comparative measurements were carried out in the field with a Shower Power-02 simulator on 6 m2 plots in Gerézdpuszta, where the slope angles were ~8% and the simulated rainfall events had high intensities (~70-96 mm h−1). The runoff and soil loss were significantly higher from arable land. The runoff-infiltration ratio and runoff coefficient showed lower infiltration capacity in the case of arable land. On average, the suspended sediment loads were tenfold higher under intensive land use. In the case of grassland a moderate increase in infiltration was observed due to higher rainfall intensity, as also reported in the literature. The rainfall simulation method provides good data for soil loss estimations.