ASSESSMENT OF SOIL EROSION BY SIMULATING RAINFALL ON AN EQUATORIAL ORGANIC SOIL
Abstract
Soil erosion occurs on construction sites partly due to site clearing that exposes the land to the erosive power of rainfall. A proposed construction project requires the submission of an Environmental Impact Assessment EIA) to assess the impact of the project on the environment. Assessment of soil erosion is included in the EIA, but the equation to estimate soil erosion known as the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is only applicable to a soil containing up to four percent organic matter. This limitation of USLE requires an alternative that can predict soil erosion on an organic soil. This study attempts to assess erosion that occurs on an organic soil by simulated rainfall. Field soil samples were reconstructed into three shapes and exposed to simulated rainfall. Results indicate that the amount of organic soil loss decreases with increasing duration of rainfall. Particle size distribution shows that particles with sizes finer than coarse sand (1.7 mm) remained on the slopes. Equations were developed from the graphs of soil loss versus duration of simulated rainfall to estimate soil loss occurring on slopes covered by an organic soil. The outcome of this study can be a precursor to developing an equation to estimate soil erodibility of a slope overlain by an organic soil.
References
R. A. Persyn, T. D. Glanville, T. L. Richard, J. M. Laflen, and P. M. Dixon, "Environmental effects of applying composted organics to new highway embankments: Part 1. Interrill runoff and erosion," Trans. ASAE, vol. 47, no. 2, p. 7, 2004.
https://doi.org/10.13031/2013.16050
X. Z. Xu, H. W. Zhang, G. Q. Wang, S. C. Chen, and W. Q. Dang, "An experimental method to verify soil conservation by check dams on the Loess Plateau, China," Environ. Monit. Assess., vol. 159, no. 1-4, pp. 293-309, 2009.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-008-0630-x
J. Dong, K. Zhang, and Z. Guo, "Runoff and soil erosion from highway construction spoil deposits: A rainfall simulation study," Transp. Res. Part D Transp. Environ., vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 8-14, 2012.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2011.09.007
W. H. Wischmeier and D. D. Smith, Predicting rainfall erosion losses - A Guide to Conservation Planning, no. 537. 1978.
G. S. Fifield, Field Manual on Sediment and Erosion Control Best Management Practices for Contractors and Inspectors. Santa Barbara, California, USA: Forester Press, 2001.
L. Ooshaksaraie, N. E. A. Basri, A. A. Bakar, and K. N. A. Maulud, "Erosion and sediment control plans to minimize impacts of housing construction activities on water resources in Malaysia," Eur. J. Sci. Res., vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 461-470, 2009.
I. A. R. Al-Ani, L. Mohd Sidek, M. N. Mohd Desa, and N. E.A.B., "Knowledge Based Expert System for Minimising Stormwater Erosion and Sedimentation in Malaysian Construction Sites," in Proceeding of the International Conference on Advanced Science, Engineering and Information Technology, 2011.
S. Niu, X. Jia, J. Sang, X. Liu, C. Lu, and Y. Liu, "Distributions of Raindrop Sizes and Fall Velocities in a Semiarid Plateau Climate: Convective versus Stratiform Rains," J. Appl. Meteorol. Climatol., vol. 49, no. Rotstayn 1997, pp. 632-645, 2010.
https://doi.org/10.1175/2009JAMC2208.1
A. Shamshad, M. N. Azhari, M. H. Isa, W. M. A. W. Hussin, and B. P. Parida, "Development of an appropriate procedure for estimation of RUSLE EI30 index and preparation of erosivity maps for Pulau Penang in Peninsular Malaysia," Catena, vol. 72, no. 3, pp. 423-432, 2008.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2007.08.002
Malaysian Meteorological Department, "General Climate of Malaysia," 2016. [Online]. Available: www.met.gov.my.
M. Mohamed, E. Padmanabhan, B. L. H. Mei, and W. B. Siong, "The Peat Soils of Sarawak," 2002.
K. H. Tew, Production of Malaysian soil erodibility nomograph in relation to soil erosion issues. Subang Jaya, Selangor: VT Soil Erosion Research and Consultancy, 1999.
British Standard Institution, "British Standard Methods of Test for Soils for Civil Engineering Purposes BS1377-2," Br. Stand., p. 72, 1990.
M. F. Yusof, R. Abdullah, H. M. Azamathulla, N. A. Zakaria, and A. A. Ghani, "Modified Soil Erodibility Factor, K for Peninsular Malaysia Soil Series," 3rd Int. Conf. Manag. Rivers 21st Century Sustain. Solut. Glob. Cris. Flooding, Pollut. Water Scarcity, pp. 799-808, 2011.
Copyright (c) 2017 Journal of Civil Engineering, Science and Technology
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Upon acceptance of an article, the corresponding author on behalf of all authors will be asked to complete and upload the Copyright Transfer Form (refer to Copyright Issues for more information on this) alongside the electronic proof file.
Copyright Transfer Statement for Journal
1) In signing this statement, the author(s) grant UNIMAS Publisher an exclusive license to publish their original research papers. The author(s) also grant UNIMAS Publisher permission to reproduce, recreate, translate, extract or summarize, and to distribute and display in any forms, formats, and media. The author(s) can reuse their papers in their future printed work without first requiring permission from UNIMAS Publisher, provided that the author(s) acknowledge and refer the publication in the Journal.
2) For open-access articles, the author(s) agree that their articles published under UNIMAS Publisher are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, for non-commercial purposes, provided the original work of the author(s) is properly cited.
3) For subscription articles, the author(s) agree that UNIMAS Publisher holds the copyright or an exclusive license to publish. Readers or users may view, download, print, and copy the content, for academic purposes, subject to the following conditions of use: (a) any reuse of materials is subjected to permission from UNIMAS Publisher; (b) archived materials may only be used for academic research; (c) archived materials may not be used for commercial purposes, which include but not limited to monetary compensation by means of sale, resale, license, transfer of copyright, loan, etc.; and (d) archived materials may not be re-published in any part, either in print or online.
4) The author(s) are responsible to ensure their submitted work is original and does not infringe any existing copyright, trademark, patent, statutory right, or propriety right of others. The corresponding author has obtained permission from all co-authors prior to submission to the journal. Upon submission of the manuscript, the author(s) agree that no similar work has been or will be submitted or published elsewhere in any language. If the submitted manuscript includes materials from others, the authors have obtained permission from the copyright owners.
5) In signing this statement, the author(s) declare that the researches which they have conducted comply with the current laws of the respective country and UNIMAS Journal Publication Ethics Policy. Any experimentation or research involving humans or the use of animal samples must obtain approval from the Human or Animal Ethics Committee in their respective institutions. The author(s) agree and understand that UNIMAS Publisher is not responsible for any compensational claims or failure caused by the author(s) in fulfilling the above-mentioned requirements. The author(s) must accept the responsibility for releasing their materials upon request by Chief Editor or UNIMAS Publisher.
6) The author(s) should have participated sufficiently in the work and ensured the appropriateness of the content of the article. The author(s) should also agree that they have no commercial attachments (e.g. patent or license arrangement, equity interest, consultancies, etc.) that might pose any conflict of interest with the submitted manuscript. The author(s) also agree to make any relevant materials and data available upon request by the editor(s) or UNIMAS Publisher.
