Modelling rill erosion at the Sparacia experimental area

Abstract

In this paper the contributions of rill and interrill components to total soil erosion monitored at event scale at the Sparacia experimental area, Southern Italy, were firstly compared and the dominance of the rill component was detected. Then, the reliability of two empirical relationships between the rill length and its eroded volume and among the morphological variables (length, width, depth and volume) describing the channelized process was tested using both direct measurements of rills, carried out for the October 3, 2011 event, and those of ephemeral gullies surveyed on February 2010 at Sparacia. The measurements of rills detected by the direct field relief were compared with those obtained using a survey by a quadricopter Microdrones that allowed the generation of a Digital Elevation Model of the rilled area. Finally, plot rill erodibility values were estimated and their spatial and time variability was analyzed. Spatial variability of rill erodibility was negligible whereas a temporal variability was detected.