Evaluation of temporal variation of splash erosion in different slopes and agricultural and forest land uses

Soil erosion is one of the major worldwide environmental challenges and its related destructive effects cannot be ignored at both inside and outside of a region. Splash and transport of soil particles by raindrops are the initiating mechanisms of water erosion. The objective of this research was to investigate temporal variations of splash erosion in different slopes and land uses using a rainfall simulator. The experiment was conducted as factorial based on completely randomized design with three replicates. The experimental treatments were consist of slope at two levels (5 and 15%)، duration of rainfall at four levels (5، 10، 15 and 20 minute) and different land uses (forest and agriculture). The results indicated that amount of splash increased with increasing rainfall duration. The amount of splash erosion of the 20-min rainfall duration was 2. 08، 1. 76 and 1. 08 times more than of 5، 10 and 15-min، respectively. The average soil loss by splash erosion in agricultual and forest land uses was 29. 37 and 25. 56g. m-2، respectively. Furthermore، the results showed that as slope increased from 5 to 15% the amount of splash erosion increased 11%. In general، at all rainfall durations، splash erosion increased significantly with changes in slope steepness (from 5 to 15%) and land use from forest to agriculture، but there was no significant difference between the15 and 20-min rainfall durations.