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Applicability of the Universal Soil Loss Equation to Semiarid Rangeland Conditions in the Southwest

From the Proceedings of the 1974 Meetings of the Arizona Section - American Water Resources Assn. and the Hydrology Section - Arizona Academy of Science - April 19-20, 1974, Flagstaff, Arizona / An erosion prediction method that has recently received wide attention in the United States is the universal soil loss equation which is given as: a=rklscp. Where a = estimated soil loss (tons/acre/year), r = a rainfall factor, k = a soil erodibility factor, l = a slope length factor, s = a slope gradient factor, c = a cropping-management factor, and p = an erosion control practice factor. Data collected on the walnut gulch experimental watershed in southeastern Arizona were used to estimate these factors for semiarid rangeland conditions. The equation was then tested with data from watersheds of 108 and 372 acres. The predicted value of annual sediment yield was 1.29 tons/acre/year as compared with an average 1.64 tons/acre/year for 4 years of data for the 108-acre watershed, and a sediment yield of 0.39 tons/acre/year was predicted for the 372-acre watershed as compared with the measured value of 0.52 tons/acre/year. Although good agreement was noted between predicted and actual sediment yield, additional work is needed before the equation can be applied to other areas of the southwest.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:arizona.edu/oai:arizona.openrepository.com:10150/300275
Date20 April 1974
CreatorsRenard, K. G., Simanton, J. R., Osborn, H. B.
ContributorsUnited States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Western Region, Southwest Watershed Research Center, Tucson, Arizona 85705
PublisherArizona-Nevada Academy of Science
Source SetsUniversity of Arizona
Languageen_US
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext, Proceedings
RightsCopyright ©, where appropriate, is held by the author.

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