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Incorporating Small Scale Spatial Variability into Predictions of Hydrologic Response on Sagebrush Rangelands

2013; Linguagem: Inglês

10.2136/sssaspecpub38.c3

2165-9826

Frederick B. Pierson, Steven S. Van Vactor, W. H. Blackburn, J. C. Wood,

Aeolian processes and effects

Chapter 3 Incorporating Small Scale Spatial Variability into Predictions of Hydrologic Response on Sagebrush Rangelands Frederick B. Pierson Jr., Frederick B. Pierson Jr. USDA-ARS Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this authorS. S. Van Vactor, S. S. Van Vactor USDA-ARS Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this authorWilbert H. Blackburn, Wilbert H. Blackburn USDA-ARS Northern Plains Area Office, Fort Collins, ColoradoSearch for more papers by this authorJames C. Wood, James C. Wood USDA-SCS Idaho State Office, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this author Frederick B. Pierson Jr., Frederick B. Pierson Jr. USDA-ARS Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this authorS. S. Van Vactor, S. S. Van Vactor USDA-ARS Northwest Watershed Research Center, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this authorWilbert H. Blackburn, Wilbert H. Blackburn USDA-ARS Northern Plains Area Office, Fort Collins, ColoradoSearch for more papers by this authorJames C. Wood, James C. Wood USDA-SCS Idaho State Office, Boise, IdahoSearch for more papers by this author Book Editor(s):Wilbert H. Blackburn, Wilbert H. BlackburnSearch for more papers by this authorFrederick B. Pierson Jr., Frederick B. Pierson Jr.Search for more papers by this authorGerald E. Schuman, Gerald E. SchumanSearch for more papers by this authorR. Zartman, R. ZartmanSearch for more papers by this author First published: 01 June 1994 https://doi.org/10.2136/sssaspecpub38.c3Citations: 5Book Series:SSSA Special Publications AboutPDFPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShareShare a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Summary A rainfall simulation study was conducted on sagebrush rangeland to quantify the small scale spatial variability in soil, plant, and hydrologic characteristics between four different surface soil-vegetation-microtopographic microsites (coppice, moss-grass, bare, and vesicular crust). The impact that this small scale spatial variability in hydrologic characteristics has on predictions of runoff and erosion from sagebrush rangeland was also investigated. The coppice and moss-grass microsites had significantly lower runoff and interrill erosion rates than the bare and vesicular crust microsites. Two averaging tech-niques (arithmetic mean and area weighted mean) were used to estimate the runoff and erosion response from a larger integrated area using measurements of runoff and erosion from the four surface microsites. The area-weighted average approach provided significantly better integrated estimates of infiltration, runoff, and interrill erosion than the arithmetic mean approach. Both averaging approaches produced poor integrated estimates of interrill erosion. These results have a significant impact on how hydrologic and erosion processes are modeled on rangelands. The commonly used assumption of viewing a hill-slope as a uniform plane that can be modeled using a single set of parameters would appear to be adequate for modeling infiltration and runoff on sagebrush rangeland, but not for modeling interrill erosion. Data presented in this chapter indicate that only a small portion of the soil particles that are detached in the interrill erosion process are actually delivered to the bottom of the hillslope. This suggests that the erosion process is transport limited and not detachment limited as often assumed. Citing Literature Variability in Rangeland Water Erosion Processes, Volume 38 RelatedInformation