Laboratory Study of Splash Erosion on Soil Samples Collected from Different Land Uses of Lordegan Subcatchment, Iran

Splash detachment and transport of soil particles by raindrops impacting a soil surface are the initiating mechanisms of water erosion. The aim of this research was to study the interaction effects of land use، slope، and rainfall intensity on splash erosion rate and its components (upslope، downslope transport، and total splash) in Lordegan sub-catchment. A factorial experiment with three variables was conducted in a completely randomized design with three replications using a Multiple Splash Set (MSS) which was designed and manufactured for this experiment. The treatments included three types of land uses (rangeland، dry farming and rain-fed farming)، two levels of rainfall intensity (2. 5 and 3. 5 mm. min-1) and two slopes of 5% and 15%. The rangeland soils showed higher organic matter and mean weight diameter of aggregates (MWD) and lower calcium carbonates than the dry farming and rain-fed farming soils. There was no significant effect of land use on splash erosion rate and its components، but there was a significant effect of slope and rainfall intensity values on the upslope، downslope، and total splash. Also، the interaction effects of rainfall intensity and land use type showed a significant increasing in splash erosion rate and its components. Therefore، increase in splash erosion rate due to rainfall intensity (from 2. 5 to 3. 5 mm. min-1) in irrigated farming land use was 1. 58 and 1. 16 times that of rangeland and dry farming land uses، respectively.