Abstract:
Runoff from agricultural and forest land carries sediment and nutrients which can harm the quality of receiving waters and degrade soil productivity. A thin layer of reduced permeability forms on the surface of many soils exposed to raindrop impact. Surface seals form on bare soils exposed to rainfall as soil aggregates are broken down by impacting raindrops. Erosion plots were established and used to measure soil loss for different rainfall, soil and topographic and land use characteristics. A set of samples for all 8 soils was collected from each profile.