Variations of runoff and sediment in soils containing different clay contents under two successive events

Study of soil erosion without simplification of experimental conditions is difficult and sometimes impossible. Soil clay content has significant relationships with soil aggregates stability and infiltration, that these relationships in various clay contents may be positive or negative. Many properties of soil in successive rainfalls can be changed and also affect on runoff and sediment production. Hence, this study attempted to investigate the effect of soil clay content on runoff and sediment production during successive rainfalls under rainfall simulator using erosion plots and eliminates the effects of the overlapping factors. To achieve these aims, 1.5 m2 erosion plots containing soil without clay, combined with 0, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 percent of clay soil in three replications, respectively (totally 18 plots) and then were subjected to two successive runs under 70 mmh-1 rainfall intensity for 30 minutes and 24-hours intervals. Sampling and measuring the volume of runoff during rainfall was done each 2.5 minutes. Based on observed data, the amounts of observed sediment in the second runs were 1.5 to 2 times higher than those found in first runs (with a total average of 9/2 and 15/0 grams per liter, respectively for first and second runs), but amounts of runoff in 0 and 10 percent of clay soil mixtures were higher in first runs (2613 and 2045 volumes in milliliters, respectively), whereas for the other mixtures, runoff volume in second runs were higher (2694, 2677, 2315 and 2752 volumes in milliliters for 20, 30, 40 and 50 percent of clay mixtures, respectively). Finally, the statistical analysis showed that in both successive runs in all mentioned soils containing various clay soil mixtures, runoff and sediment values were different significantly (p<0.01). The results showed that there are significant temporal variations within soil properties and also soil clay content has great effects on the quality and quantity of soil erosion process.