A review of daily soil erosion in Western Mediterranean areas

We reviewed daily soil erosion data (mainly by rainfall erosion) in Western Mediterranean areas by compiling the data taken from the bibliography. Although soil erosion varies from site to site, and from year to year, annual amount of soil eroded depends on a few daily erosive events. Each year the three highest daily erosive events (ranked by magnitude) represent more than 50% of annual soil eroded, regardless of the total amount. This ratio is also evident on a supra-annual scale. The similarity of results from different environments, field methods and rainfall conditions suggests that the interpretation of annual average erosion rates should be viewed with caution. The dependence of soil erosion on a few daily erosive events should also be home in mind when reconstructing the past, and suggests a new scenario in which historical geomorphology is replaced by a new catastrophism. ( )007 Elsevier B.V All rights reserved.