Rates and Spatial Variations of Soil Erosion in Europe: A Study Based on Erosion Plot Data. Cerdan, O., Govers, G., Le Bissonnais, Y., Van Oost, K., Poesen, J., Saby, N., Gobin, A., Vacca, A., Quinton, J., Auerswald, K., Klik, A., Kwaad, F. J. P. M., Raclot, D., Ionita, I., Rejman, J., Rousseva, S., Muxart, T., Roxo, M. J., & Dostal, T. Geomorphology, 122(1-2):167–177, October, 2010.
doi  abstract   bibtex   
An extensive database of short to medium-term erosion rates as measured on erosion plots in Europe under natural rainfall was compiled from the literature. Statistical analysis confirmed the dominant influence of land use and cover on soil erosion rates. Sheet and rill erosion rates are highest on bare soil; vineyards show the second highest soil losses, followed by other arable lands (spring crops, orchards and winter crops). A land with a permanent vegetation cover (shrubs, grassland and forest) is characterised by soil losses which are generally more than an order of magnitude lower than those on arable land. Disturbance of permanent vegetation by fire leads to momentarily higher erosion rates but rates are still lower than those measured on arable land. We also noticed important regional differences in erosion rates. Erosion rates are generally much lower in the Mediterranean as compared to other areas in Europe; this is mainly attributed to the high soil stoniness in the Mediterranean. Measured erosion rates on arable and bare land were related to topography (slope steepness and length) and soil texture, while this was not the case for plots with a permanent land cover. We attribute this to a fundamental difference in runoff generation and sediment transfer according to land cover types. On the basis of these results we calculated mean sheet and rill erosion rates for the European area covered by the CORINE database: estimated rill and interrill erosion rates are ca. 1.2~t~ha-~1~year-~1 for the whole CORINE area and ca. 3.6~t~ha-~1~year-~1 for arable land. These estimates are much lower than some earlier estimates which were based on the erroneous extrapolation of small datasets. High erosion rates occur in areas dominated by vineyards, the hilly loess areas in West and Central Europe and the agricultural areas located in the piedmont areas of the major European mountain ranges. [Excerpt: Conclusions] The compilation of a large database of sheet and rill erosion rates measured in various European environments allowed us to identify some important controls on sheet and rill erosions. Land use has an overwhelming effect on erosion rates: soil losses on conventionally tilled arable land are often more than an order of magnitude higher than those on surfaces with permanent vegetation. Plot erosion rates showed clear regional differences, with much lower values in the Mediterranean than in the rest of Europe. This somewhat counterintuitive result is explained by the stony nature of many soils in the Mediterranean, characterised by low erosion rates due to the protective effect of the rock fragments there. The lower erosion rates in the Mediterranean do not necessarily mean that erosion in the Mediterranean is a lesser threat for the soil resource: as soils are often already very thin, any additional soil loss may be considered to be detrimental. Apart from stoniness and land use, sheet and rill erosion rates on arable and bare land are controlled by topography: on arable land, erosion rates generally increase with slope gradient and length, as expected. No topographical effects could be identified for land under permanent vegetation cover: this is probably due to the fact that hydrological and erosion processes operate differently in these environments, which are often characterised by discontinuous runoff. [\n] We used our data to derive spatially distributed estimates of sheet and rill erosion rates for Europe.Weestimate the average sheet and rill erosion rate for the part of Europe covered by the CORINE database as ca. 1.24 and 3.6 t ha-1 year-1 for arable land, respectively. These values are much lower than some values that were hitherto reported: such overestimations are mostly due to an inadequate extrapolation of local measurements. Evidently, these average values mask a large variation in space: in erosion-prone areas, erosion rates may be several times higher.
@article{cerdanRatesSpatialVariations2010,
  title = {Rates and Spatial Variations of Soil Erosion in {{Europe}}: A Study Based on Erosion Plot Data},
  author = {Cerdan, O. and Govers, G. and Le Bissonnais, Y. and Van Oost, K. and Poesen, J. and Saby, N. and Gobin, A. and Vacca, A. and Quinton, J. and Auerswald, K. and Klik, A. and Kwaad, F. J. P. M. and Raclot, D. and Ionita, I. and Rejman, J. and Rousseva, S. and Muxart, T. and Roxo, M. J. and Dostal, T.},
  year = {2010},
  month = oct,
  volume = {122},
  pages = {167--177},
  issn = {0169-555X},
  doi = {10.1016/j.geomorph.2010.06.011},
  abstract = {An extensive database of short to medium-term erosion rates as measured on erosion plots in Europe under natural rainfall was compiled from the literature. Statistical analysis confirmed the dominant influence of land use and cover on soil erosion rates. Sheet and rill erosion rates are highest on bare soil; vineyards show the second highest soil losses, followed by other arable lands (spring crops, orchards and winter crops). A land with a permanent vegetation cover (shrubs, grassland and forest) is characterised by soil losses which are generally more than an order of magnitude lower than those on arable land. Disturbance of permanent vegetation by fire leads to momentarily higher erosion rates but rates are still lower than those measured on arable land. We also noticed important regional differences in erosion rates. Erosion rates are generally much lower in the Mediterranean as compared to other areas in Europe; this is mainly attributed to the high soil stoniness in the Mediterranean. Measured erosion rates on arable and bare land were related to topography (slope steepness and length) and soil texture, while this was not the case for plots with a permanent land cover. We attribute this to a fundamental difference in runoff generation and sediment transfer according to land cover types. On the basis of these results we calculated mean sheet and rill erosion rates for the European area covered by the CORINE database: estimated rill and interrill erosion rates are ca. 1.2~t~ha-~1~year-~1 for the whole CORINE area and ca. 3.6~t~ha-~1~year-~1 for arable land. These estimates are much lower than some earlier estimates which were based on the erroneous extrapolation of small datasets. High erosion rates occur in areas dominated by vineyards, the hilly loess areas in West and Central Europe and the agricultural areas located in the piedmont areas of the major European mountain ranges.

[Excerpt: Conclusions] The compilation of a large database of sheet and rill erosion rates measured in various European environments allowed us to identify some important controls on sheet and rill erosions. Land use has an overwhelming effect on erosion rates: soil losses on conventionally tilled arable land are often more than an order of magnitude higher than those on surfaces with permanent vegetation. Plot erosion rates showed clear regional differences, with much lower values in the Mediterranean than in the rest of Europe. This somewhat counterintuitive result is explained by the stony nature of many soils in the Mediterranean, characterised by low erosion rates due to the protective effect of the rock fragments there. The lower erosion rates in the Mediterranean do not necessarily mean that erosion in the Mediterranean is a lesser threat for the soil resource: as soils are often already very thin, any additional soil loss may be considered to be detrimental. Apart from stoniness and land use, sheet and rill erosion rates on arable and bare land are controlled by topography: on arable land, erosion rates generally increase with slope gradient and length, as expected. No topographical effects could be identified for land under permanent vegetation cover: this is probably due to the fact that hydrological and erosion processes operate differently in these environments, which are often characterised by discontinuous runoff.

[\textbackslash n] We used our data to derive spatially distributed estimates of sheet and rill erosion rates for Europe.Weestimate the average sheet and rill erosion rate for the part of Europe covered by the CORINE database as ca. 1.24 and 3.6 t ha-1 year-1 for arable land, respectively. These values are much lower than some values that were hitherto reported: such overestimations are mostly due to an inadequate extrapolation of local measurements. Evidently, these average values mask a large variation in space: in erosion-prone areas, erosion rates may be several times higher.},
  journal = {Geomorphology},
  keywords = {*imported-from-citeulike-INRMM,~INRMM-MiD:c-7396400,~to-add-doi-URL,agricultural-resources,ecosystem-services,forest-resources,grasslands,land-cover,mountainous-areas,runoff,slope,soil-erosion,soil-resources,stoniness,vegetation,vineyards,wildfires},
  lccn = {INRMM-MiD:c-7396400},
  number = {1-2}
}

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