Erosion Processes and Sediment Yield Environmental Hydrology Lecture 22

Outline Sediment Yield and Erosion Processes Estimating Erosion Rates Sediment budgets (including scale issues)

Soil Erosion Vulnerability Global Dimensions of Vulnerability to Wind and Water Erosion Paul Reich, Hari Eswaran and Fred Beinroth USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and University of Puerto Rico See full report

Soil Erosion Vulnerability Global Dimensions of Vulnerability to Wind and Water Erosion Paul Reich, Hari Eswaran and Fred Beinroth USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and University of Puerto Rico See full report

Soil Erosion Vulnerability Global Dimensions of Vulnerability to Wind and Water Erosion Paul Reich, Hari Eswaran and Fred Beinroth USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service and University of Puerto Rico See full report

Soil Erosion Rates from: Walling, D.E., 1999. Linking land use, erosion and sediment yields in river basins. Hydrobiologia 410: 223–240, .

Worldwide sediment yields

Predicting global erosion to oceans Syvitski et al., 2003. Predicting the terrestrial flux of sediment to the global ocean: a planetary perspective. Sedimentary Geology 162: 5 –24

Scale effects on sediment yield Xu Jiongxin and Yan Yunxia, 2004. Scale effects on specific sediment yield in the Yellow River basin and geomorphological explanations Journal of Hydrology, 307(1-4): 219-232.

Erosion Processes Mass Wasting (gravity driven) Fluvial (flow driven)

Forms of mass wasting Source: Christopherson, 2000. Elemental Geosystems, 4th ed. Prentice Hall

Fluvial Erosion Sheet (interrill) and Rill erosion Gully erosion

Factors affecting erosion rates Climate Soil properties Topography Vegetation Landuse (cropping practices, urbanization) Rill erosion following Buffalo Creek Fire, CO, Image: J. Moody, USGS Rill erosion on an urban construction site Image: USDA NRCS