Modification of the RUSLE slope length and steepness factor (LS-factor) based on rainfall experiments at steep alpine grasslands.

ABSTRACT: The slope length and slope steepness factor (LS-factor) is one of five factors of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and its revised version (RUSLE) describing the influence of topography on soil erosion risk. The LS-factor was originally developed for slopes less than 50% inclination and has not been tested for steeper slopes. To overcome this limitation, we adapted both factors slope length L and slope steepness S for conditions experimentally observed at Swiss alpine grasslands. For the new L-factor (L_alpine), a maximal flow path threshold, corresponding to 100 m, was implemented to take into account short runoff flow paths and rapid infiltration that has been observed in our experiments. For the S-factor, a fitted quadratic polynomial function (S_alpine) has b

SUBMITTER: Schmidt S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6360611 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature