Relative soil water content as a factor for wind erodibility in soils with different texture and aggregation

Abstract

The soil water content is one of the main factors influencing the beginning of soil particle movement by the wind. Although, some authors studied the effect of soil water content on threshold wind velocity and have defined a value to prevent wind erosion, the critical relative soil water content (HRc), most of them used disturbed and/or sieved soil samples. Under these conditions, the effect of aggregation, i.e. the natural state of the soil, cannot be evaluated. So, our objective was to determine HRc in soils with different textures in Semiarid Argentinian Pampas Region (SAPR) using uncrushed soil samples under variable wind velocities. Wind tunnel simulations were performed at three wind speeds (2.1, 8.0 and 10.5 m s−1) during 3 min in each case. Results indicated that the quantity of collected soil (Q) decreased with increasing relative soil water contents (HR) up to a HRc value at which it became negligible. HRc values were lower in fine textured soils than in coarse soils. All soils showed increasing HRc values as wind velocity increased from 2.1 to 10.5 m s−1, while the wind velocity effect is more important in coarse textured soils. HRc was negatively related to micro-aggregation in a linear way. For that reason, soils with high fine silt and clay content need lower HRc values to inhibit wind erosion. In conclusion, not only texture is important factor in defining the HRc value at a specific wind velocity but also the micro and macro-aggregation of the soils.