Determination of the threshold velocity of soil wind erosion using a wind tunnel and its prediction for calcareous soils of Iran

Determination of the threshold velocity (TV) is a crucial step for wind erosion evaluation. Due to the difficulties of direct field measurements, pedotransfer functions (PTFs) and easily measurable soil properties could be used to save time and cost in predicting TV. Therefore, the present study was conducted to predict the TV using PTFs and to assess its influential parameters for calcareous soils of Fars Province, southern Iran. To this end, the TV was measured by a portable wind tunnel at 72 locations in different land uses and soil types across the study site. Various physicochemical and mechanical soil properties were used to develop six PTFs using multiple linear regression. Results showed that the TV varied from 3.0 m s(-1) in poor rangelands to 12.83 m s(-1) in saline lands. Soil surface shear strength (SS) with a correlation coefficient of 0.85 was the most influential parameter affecting the TV, followed by aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD). Results of the predictive models revealed that PTF 5, which was developed using SS and penetration resistance (PR;R-2 = 0.86, RMSE = 0.85 m s(-1)), and PTF 6, which was developed using MWD and PR (R-2 = 0.81, RMSE = 1.07 m s(-1)), had the highest performance for predicting the TV. PTF 5 was selected as the final model for predicting the TV since it only needed easily measurable soil properties without soil sample collection. We concluded that the use of PTFs could be an applicable alternative way to predict the TV, particularly at large scales.

Automated summary

Determining the threshold velocity (TV) is crucial for assessing wind erosion. This study used pedotransfer functions (PTFs) and easily measurable soil properties to predict the TV in calcareous soils of Fars Province, southern Iran. The results showed that soil surface shear strength (SS) and aggregate mean weight diameter (MWD) were the most influential parameters affecting the TV. The predictive models developed using SS and penetration resistance (PR), as well as MWD and PR, had the highest performance for predicting the TV. PTF 5, which only required easily measurable soil properties, was selected as the final model for TV prediction.