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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/219344 |
| Date | January 1993 |
| Creators | Son, Vo Thanh, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Applied Science |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Vo Thanh Son |
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