Changes of soil microrelief under the influence of simulated rainfall

Soil microrelief is one of the factors affecting wind and water erosion process. Spatial variability of soil surface (microrelief) influences initiation of the surface runoff and water flow mainly through depressions, where the runoff is delayed and infiltration increases owing to the interception of the flowing water. The research was conducted to assess the changes of relief of two soils (sandy loam and fine sand) under the influence of rainfall in a model experiment. The soil microrelief was determined by means of a contactless 3D scanner using the effect of line distortion as light beam illuminating the object surface (so called Moire pattern). On the basis of obtained results, maps of the differences in the scanned surface elevations were plotted in ArcGIS programme and the soil losses volume was computed. RR indicator calculated for sandy loam was decreasing with increasing depth of simulated rainfall. No such dependence was observed for loose sand.

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Opracowanie ze środków MNiSW w ramach umowy 812/P-DUN/2016 na działalność upowszechniającą naukę (zadania 2017).