Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-zzh7m Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-29T17:22:40.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Soil erosion in south Somerset

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 March 2009

G. J. N. Colborne  and
S. J. Staines
G. J. N. Colborne
Affiliation:
Soil Survey of England and WalesKingston Maurward, Dorchester, Dorset
S. J. Staines
Affiliation:
Soil Survey of England and WalesKingston Maurward, Dorchester, Dorset
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Local soil erosion has long been a problem on very fine sandy and silty soils in south Somerset. Some 40 fields in arable use were chosen randomly and monitored monthly for erosion in the winter of 1982–3. Erosion was measured along fixed traverses and then compared with soil attributes, site factors and cultivation practices. Winter cereals were worst affected with a third of the fields having soil losses in excess of 4 m3/ha. There was least erosion on bare ploughed ground and moderate losses on cash root crops. Soil type, organic-carbon content, clay content, drill direction, wheeling density and slope all affected soil loss in winter cereal fields.

Erosion did not assume serious proportions until a combination of soil surface conditions and soil wetness allowed run-off to form rills. Only moderate falls of rain were then needed for widespread removal of soil. Preventative measures include grassing slope convexities, more grass in the rotation to improve soil organic matter and structure, avoiding wheelings, drilling across the slope and keeping headland widths to a minimum.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Agricultural Science , Volume 104 , Issue 1 , February 1985 , pp. 107 - 112
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Avery, B. W. & Bascomb, C. L. (1974). Soil Survey Laboratory Methods. Soil Survey Technical Monograph No. 6, Harpenden.Google Scholar
Boardman, J. (1983). Soil erosion at Alboume, West Sussex, England. Applied Geography 3, 317–329.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davies, D. K. (1969). Shelf sedimentation: an example from the Jurassic of Britain. Journal of Sedimentary Petrology 39 (4), 1344–1370.Google Scholar
Dermott, W. (1967). Dispersion ratio determination. In West European Methods for Soil Structure Determination 1967, vi, p. 55.Google Scholar
Evans, R. (1980). Characteristics of water eroded fields in lowland England. In Assessment of Erosion (ed. Boodt, M. De and Gabriels, D.), pp. 77–87. Chichester: John Wiley and Sons Ltd.Google Scholar
Evans, R. (1983). Soil erosion. In The Soil Survey, England and Wales. Annual Report 1982, Harpenden, 17 and 18.Google Scholar
Evans, R. & Nortcliff, S. (1978). Soil erosion in north Norfolk. Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge 90, 185–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greenland, D. J., Rimmer, D. & Payne, D. (1975). Determination of the structural stability class of English and Welsh soils, using a water coherence test. Journal of Soil Science 26, 294–303.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison Reed, A. (1983). The erosion risk of compaction. Soil and Water 2, 29–33.Google Scholar
Morgan, R. P. C. (1977). Soil Erosion in the United Kingdom: Field Studies in the Silsoe Area, 1973–75. National College of Agricultural Engineering, Occasional Paper 4.Google Scholar
Wilson, V., Welch, F. B. A., Robbie, J. A. & Green, G. W. (1958). Geology of the country around Bridport and Yeovil. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain. London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Wischmeier, W. H., Johnson, C. B. & Cross, B. V. (1971). A soil erodibility nomograph for farmland and construction sites. Journal of Soil and Water Conservation 26, 187–193.Google Scholar