RWEQ-Wind erosion predictions for variable soil roughness conditions

Abstract

The soil surface roughness is a main factor in all wind erosion prediction models, including the Revised Wind Erosion Equation (RWEQ). The objective of this study was to test the erodibility of two typical soils of the semiarid Argentinean Pampas under three different tillage conditions (compared to a flat surface) at three wind velocities using a wind tunnel and to evaluate the performance of the RWEQ model. Results showed that all rough surfaces were less eroded by wind than a flat surface (FS) in both soils and all wind velocities. An exception was LB (lister-bedder) in the Haplustoll that showed similar erosion than FS. Wind erosion increased rapidly above 16.5 m s−1 wind velocity in all tillage conditions. The relative wind erosion (RE) calculated with the RWEQ (K′ factor) fitted well with measured RE, except for K′ < 0.1 (rougher surface) where the measured RE were much higher than the predicted. More than 70% of RE variability was explained by the oriented roughness (Kr) in both soils. The aforementioned indicates that Kr can be used instead of K′ (a value that contains both, Kr and the random roughness – Crr factors) to predict wind erosion with RWEQ in the studied soils. Absolute wind erosion amounts predicted with RWEQ fitted well with measured data only for DT, mainly at low wind velocity. For the other tillage tools, the model did not apply well as it underestimated the erosion for the rougher soil surface condition (LB) and overestimated it for the less rough surface (DH).