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Evaluation of the USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation) to estimate soil loss from hobby farms and commercial pastoral properties around Murrumbateman, NSW, Australia

This thesis is an evaluation of the use the USLE to estimate soil loss from
two pastoral land uses - commercial properties and "hobby farms" in
Murrumbateman. Sensitivity analysis was used to evaluate the USLE
components. Sediment measurement in farm dams was taken to estimate
sediment yield from several sites, as an alternative approach to study soil
loss. The annual soil loss from entire study area was 0.25 t/ha/year whilst
these figures from commercial properties and hobby farms were 0.29
t/ha/year and 0.21 t/ha/year, respectively. The annual average sediment
yield from three catchments in hobby farms was 0.3 t/ha/year. The USLE
was found to be highly sensitive to slope steepness, ground cover and
stocking rates. The critical values were 16% for slopes, 35% for the ground
cover and 19 Dry Sheep Equivalent/ha for stocking rate. I tentatively
conclude that the USLE is sufficiently sensitive to detect differences in soil
loss between the two land uses. There is, however, a need to improve the
operation of the model in some respects. The use of farm dams for
estimating sediment yield also shows promise.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219344
Date January 1993
CreatorsSon, Vo Thanh, n/a
PublisherUniversity of Canberra. Applied Science
Source SetsAustraliasian Digital Theses Program
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Rights), Copyright Vo Thanh Son

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