Soil Erosion Studies Using Simulated Rainfall

A study was conducted in vertisol to determine variation in runoff, soil loss and particle size distribution with different Antecedent Moisture Condition (AMC). The runoff and soil loss increased as AMC increased. However the particle size distribution in the sediment is not affected by either antecedent moisture condition or by total runoff. But the amount of each particle size varied with increasing AMC. Black soils were collected and filled in the tray size of 1.5 m x 1.0 m x 0.23 m having 1 % slope. The initial characteristics of the soil such as bulk density, particle density, and pore space percentage were determined by using Keen-Raczkowski method (Keen and Raczkowski, 1921) and the particle size distribution was determined by international pipette method (Piper,1966). Simulated rainfall intensity of 93—95 mm/hr was allowed over the soil tray over a time period of 20 min for continuous 5 days. During that period observation were recorded after initial calibration of the rainfall simulator. 3 Results and discussion