Effect of surface rills on soil redistribution by tillage erosion on a steep hillslope

Water and tillage erosion processes are important contributors to the total soil erosion in steeply sloping farm-land. Although these erosion processes and mechanisms are well understood separately, little is known about the impact of water erosion on the soil redistributed by tillage erosion on sloping fields. In this study, the magnetic tracing (MT) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) techniques were applied to perform tillage simulation experiments to ascertain the effect of surface rills on tillage erosion in the dry-hot valley region of southwestern China. The results of simulation experiments indicate that the mean soil flux (Q(s)) due to tillage on the single-rilled (double-rilled) hillslopes was 85.6 (109.9) kg/m for the mean soil loss rates (R-s) of 21.0 (53.7) Mg/ha in simulated-rill areas, and that tillage erosion rates (R-t) tended to increase with increasing R-s. R-t of the single-rilled (double-rilled) hillslopes increased by 1.7 (2.2) times averagely, compared with those of the non-rilled hillslopes. The greater the number and volume of rills, the more easily soil translocation occurred on steep slopes. R-t were highly significantly and positively correlated with R-s on the rilled hillslopes (P < 0.01). As slope gradient increased, the tillage displacement and Q(s) appeared to increase on the single-rilled hillslopes. A comparison of measurement results showed that the TLS technique was not only able to measure tillage-induced soil translocation with an accuracy similar to that of the MT technique, but also captured the change in the slope microtopography due to tillage operation. Our results indicated that surface rills remarkably influence tillage erosion and that Q(s) and R-t enhance with increasing R-s on the slopes. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The study found that surface rills significantly impact tillage erosion, with tillage erosion rates increasing with higher water erosion rates on slopes. The results suggest a strong correlation between surface rills, water erosion, and tillage erosion on steep slopes.