Sediment Sizes Eroded from Crop Row Sideslopes

ABSTRACT CROP row sideslopes of ten soils were tested under simulated rainstorms to determine the size distribu-tions of the eroded (undispersed) sediment. Sizes of sedi-ment eroded from different soils differed considerably. These size distributions were compared with the size distributions of the dispersed sediment and original sur-face soil. The undispersed sediment was coarser than either the dispersed soil or sediment for all soils, and it was much coarser for many soils. For each soil, the sedi-ment size distribution changed relatively little with major changes in rain intensity, continued erosion, and the presence or absence of a crop canopy. The size distribu-tion of sediment from row sideslopes seems to be a fairly distinct characteristic of a given soil in a given condition.