Information
Long-term contemporary erosion rates in an arid rangelands environment in western New South Wales, Australia
Level 1 General description
Purpose:
To monitor the long-term effects of sheetwash, rilling and deflation on surface lowering under varied surface types.
Methods (brief)
Rates of soil loss were determined using erosion pins on a severely eroded surface in a small arid rangelands catchment in western New South Wales over a 10 year period. Erosion pins were implemented on three surface types:
- Gullied surface;
- Flat surface; and
- Vegetated hummocky surface.
- Gullied surface had erosion rates of up to 12.3t ha-1 year-1. Surface lowering over the 10 year period averaged 12.3mm year-1.
- Flat surfaces had erosion rates of up to 59.5t ha-1 year-1. Surface lowering over the 10 year period averaged 3.5mm year-1.
- Vegetated hummocky surfaces had erosion rates of up to 30.6 t ha-1 year-1. Surface lowering over the 10 year period averaged 1.8mm year-1.
- An average over the whole plot of 50mm of surface lowering occurred over the 10 year study period.
Key findings (brief)
Location
Fowlers Gap, north-western, New South Wales
Related studies
N/A