Academic literature on the topic 'Rainfall detachment'

Temporal changes in soil loss rates as a result of rainfall detachment were measured in modified splash-cups (kc) for two contrasting soil types with 5 mm depth of surface water at two constant rainfall rates (56 and 100 mm h-1). Results were compared with those from a flume (kf) for the same rainfall duration, rainfall rates, soil types and water depth. Reasons are given why soil loss rate commonly measured from splash-cups is not a true measure of soil detachment by rainfall when surface water is present. In order to yield the true rate of soil detachment, the measured net rate of soil loss must be augmented by a correction accounting for the rate of deposition. Theory for the net outcome of rainfall detachment and sediment deposition was used to interpret net soil loss data at equilibrium from splash-cups to yield true soil detachment rates (eTc), and compared those from a flume (eTf ). The two soil types were a cracking clay (black earth or Vertisol) and a slightly dispersive sandy clay loam (solonchak or Aridisol). Splash-cup modification allowed the proportion of sediment lost as airsplash (and therefore not deposited within the splash-cup) to be quantified to allow calculation of true soil detachment rates, and hence true soil detachabilities. Under constant rainfall rates and water depth, kc decreased significantly (5% level) with time until an equilibrium detachment rate was reached. This decrease was attributed to the development of a deposited layer on the soil surface, coarser in texture than the original soil. Values of kc were higher for the solonchak than the black earth, and increased with rainfall rate. At equilibrium, eTc and qf were approximately three orders of magnitude greater than kcand kf, illustrating the importance of recognizing the deposition process in determining true rates of soil detachment and soil detachabilities. There was no significant difference (5% level) between kc and kf at equilibrium for the black earth, but values of kc were significantly higher (5% level) than kf for the solonchak. There were no significant differences (5% level) between qc and eTf for both soil types at the low rainfall rate, but eTc were significantly lower than eTf for both the black earth (5% level) and solonchak (0.1% level) at the high rate.

Experiments carried out in a simulated-rainfall tilting-flume facility are reported in which sediment concentrations (c) in runoff water resulting from overland flow only, or from a combination of rainfall and overland flow, were measured under controlled conditions using a series of slopes (0.1, 05, 1, 3 and 5%). The mixture of rainfall (of rate 100 mm h-1) and runon of water at the top of the flume were arranged to provide a constant volumetric flux (1.0x10-3 m3 m-l s-1) at exit from the 5.8 m long flume. Two contrasting soil types were studied: a cracking clay (black earth or vertisol), and a slightly dispersive sandy clay loam (solonchak or aridisol). Two major processes which can contribute to soil erosion under rainfall are rainfall detachment and runoff entrainment. For both soil types, c was generally highest for the steepest slope and decreased with slope. For constant rainfall and/or runoff conditions, c generally decreased with time until an equilibrium concentration was reached. At this equilibrium, the relative importance of rainfall detachment and entrainment in terms of soil loss was dependent on soil type and streampower which incorporates effects of slope and water flux. For streampowers <0.1 W m-2 for the black earth, and <0.3 W m-2 for the solonchak, the greatest contribution to c was by rainfall detachment, whilst at greater streampowers entrainment was the dominant contributor to c. At any streampower, the contribution by rainfall detachment was greater for the weakly structured solonchak than for the well aggregated black earth. At lower strearnpowers, the interaction between erosion processes was found to give higher c than the sum of both sediment concentrations resulting from the separately occurring processes. At streampowers greater than approximately 0.5 W m-2, rainfall reduced eroded sediment concentration by suppressing rill development. The findings in this study suggest that both runoff entrainment and rainfall detachment can contribute to sediment concentration from 'interrill' areas.

Rainfall-induced shallow landslides represent a serious threat in hilly and mountain areas around the world. The mountainous landscape of the Cinque Terre (eastern Liguria, Italy) is increasingly popular for both Italian and foreign tourists, most of which visit this outstanding terraced coastal landscape to enjoy a beach holiday and to practice hiking. However, this area is characterized by a high level of landslide hazard due to intense rainfalls that periodically affect its rugged and steep territory. One of the most severe events occurred on 25 October 2011, causing several fatalities and damage for millions of euros. To adequately address the issues related to shallow landslide risk, it is essential to develop landslide susceptibility models as reliable as possible. Regrettably, most of the current land-use and urban planning approaches only consider the susceptibility to landslide detachment, neglecting transit and runout processes. In this study, the adoption of a combined approach allowed to estimate shallow landslide susceptibility to both detachment and potential runout. At first, landslide triggering susceptibility was assessed using Machine Learning techniques and applying the Ensemble approach. Nine predisposing factors were chosen, while a database of about 300 rainfall-induced shallow landslides was used as input. Then, a Geographical Information System (GIS)-based procedure was applied to estimate the potential landslide runout using the “reach angle” method. Information from such analyses was combined to obtain a susceptibility map describing detachment, transit, and runout. The obtained susceptibility map will be helpful for land planning, as well as for decision makers and stakeholders, to predict areas where rainfall-induced shallow landslides are likely to occur in the future and to identify areas where hazard mitigation measures are needed.

Thirty-five erosion experiments, involving four levels of surface contact cover by corn stalks and corn leaves (the latter represented by flat metal sheets) on three slopes, were carried out under simulated rainfall to investigate the effect of fractional surface contact cover and type on the loss and enrichment ratio (ER) of nitrogen in eroded sediment. All experiments were in a tilting flume of the simulated rainfall facility with a sandy clay loam soil. Experiments with rainfall detachment as the only erosion process were conducted on a low slope of 0.1%, to prevent entrainment occurring. The simulated rainfall rate was 100 mm h-1, and sediment samples were collected at the flume exit for up to 40 min. In experiments with entrainment as the only erosion process, clear water was applied as runon at the top of the flume. A stream power of 0 33 W m-2 was used and maintained with entrainment alone and in experiments with rainfall and runon combined for both 3 and 6% slopes. Sediment samples were fractionated through a series of sieves and total nitrogen was analysed for each size range to give the enrichment ratio (ER). The aggregate size or settling velocity characteristics, enrichment ratio (ER), and total nitrogen loss of the eroded sediment varied considerably with slope and cover types for the different erosion experiments. As cover by corn stalks increased, the settling velocity characteristics of eroded sediment became finer; the degree of this fineness was greater than when simulated leaves provided the same cover. For the rainfall detachment alone experiments, values of ER were greater than unity for both cover types and slopes, and greater than values for all other experiments. For the combined rainfall and runon experiments, ER was higher for corn stalks than simulated leaves. For experiments with entrainment alone, values of ER were close to unity for both cover types and slope, even by the early sampling time of 0.6 min. It may be concluded that the effectiveness of cover in reducing nutrient loss lies in reducing sediment loss, not in reducing ER. When rainfall detachment and entrainment were applied together, sediment concentration and total nitrogen loss were substantially increased over the sum of the contribution of rainfall detachment and entrainment acting alone. This finding indicates synergism in nutrient loss between these two erosion processes.

This paper makes use of Non-Coarse Particle (NCP) data collected from three different impervious surfaces in Toowoomba, Australia. NCP is defined as suspended solids less than 500 μm in size. NCP loads (in mg/m2) were derived for 24 storms from a galvanized iron roof, a concrete car park and a bitumen road pavement. A scatter plot analysis was used to identify potential correlations between NCP loads and basic rainfall parameters such as rainfall depth and intensity. An exponential-type trend, consistent with many washoff models, was evident between load and average rainfall intensity for all surfaces. However, load data for some storms did not fit this general trend. Various indices, comprising different combinations of basic rainfall parameters, were evaluated as an alternative to rainfall intensity. A composite index, referred to as the Rainfall Detachment Index, was found to be better than average rainfall intensity in explaining a relationship between NCP load and storm rainfall characteristics. The selected rainfall index utilizes 6-minute rainfall intensities and is a variant of the well known Rainfall Erosivity Index (EI30) used for soil erosion estimation.

Filtration models were applied to a gravel inlet system to estimate attachment and/or detachment of particles onto collectors (gravel grain). Two methods were used to estimate total solidstrapping efficiency at the gravel inlet: mass concentration and particle count. The first method provided trapping estimate between 11% and 22% based on two averaging computations. The second method, particle count, showed that detachment of total solids occurred mostly with the clay size category and early duringrainfall events. Detachment reveals the quality of effluent and can be interpreted as particles being detached either from previous total solids deposit or not being retained by the collector. Based on a model by Rajagopalan and Tien, trapping ability of gravel inlet was expected to be relatively low (<50%) for particles and aggregates smaller than 100 μm. Five rainfall events in 2002 were analyzed and showed that the first event had a retention capacity of 32% with a significant statistical difference between pairs of samples from “above” and “below” the gravel, based on a paired t-test. The following rainfall events had not seen any significant difference based on the same statistical test between the above and below water samples; however, the pattern of retention within pairs of samples showed that large filtration values were associated with incoming large solids concentrations, which, in turn, are related to rainfall bursts. The laser diffractometer technique allowed the particle count method to estimate number of particles retained or detached with respect to the gravel media. Particle count was obtained by direct measurement in the fine silt and clay size region and by extrapolation of measured data for large size in the silt-sand region including small particles and aggregates. Two rainfall events (August 3 and 21) showed important detachment based on particle counting method.

A new model of the erosion by water of cohesive soils is developed using physical principles. The theoretical framework which is developed recognises the changing nature of the eroding surface of a soil. Raindrop impact and overland flow are considered to act upon a soil surface so removing soil from the cohesive original (or parent) soil. Once this soil enters the overland flow, either as aggregates or primary particles, it is considered to return to the soil bed, from which it may be re-removed. The development of a deposited layer makes it necessary to distinguish between processes removing sediment from the original soil and those processes removing the deposited layer. This layer, being formed by the relatively gentle action of deposition during the current erosion event, is presumed cohesionless. The physical properties of the original soil and the deposited layer are considered to be very different. The development of two experimental apparatus, a rainfall/runoff simulator and a settling tube for the measurement of aggregate settling velocities, is first described. Experimental investigations, using these apparatus, and field observations to inform the description of the erosion and deposition processes, are then presented. The processes by which rainfall impact removes sediment from the original soil and the deposited layer are termed rainfall detachment and rainfall re-detachment respectively. Initially, descriptions of these processes in the presence of deposition, are combined in a model describing net rainfall detachment when removal of sediment from the flow bed by overland flow is not occurring. The developriient of the deposited layer is considered both quantitatively and qualitatively. The solution of the equation describing mass conservation is then given for the equilibrium situation when the mass of the deposited layer, and therefore the sediment concentration, is constant with respect to time. The processes by which overland flow removes sediment from the original soil and the deposited layer are termed entrainment and re-entrainment. The work done by the process of entrainment is considered to be done wholly against the cohesive strength of the original soil. In contrast to the process of entrainment, the work done in re-entraining sediment from the deposited layer is considered only to be done against gravity. The resulting description of these processes is then combined with the previous descriptions of rainfall detachment, rainfall re-detachment and deposition and with the equation describing the conservation of mass of sediment within any arbitary number of size (or settling velocity) classes. A plane geometry model Is developed in which the surface water flow is considered to be uniformily distributed across a plane slope on which all processes act. When the mass of the deposited layer is steady, two possible forms of equilibrium are shown to exist. When the coverage of the original soil by deposited layer is partial, the sediment concentration is limited by the removal of the cohesive original soil by entrainment and rainfall detachment, in the presence of deposition. This situation is termed 'source limiting' and is shown to provide a lower limit to sediment concentration. When the coverage of the deposited layer is complete so that entrainment and rainfall detachment of the original soil are considered not to occur, then the ability of the erosive agents to re-entrain and re-detach sediment in the presence of deposition limits sediment concentration. This situation, termed 'transport limiting', is shown to provide a practical upper limit to sediment concentration. This plane geometry flow model is followed by a revised model in which all processes are considered to occur but the flow of water on a plane surface is modified by the formation of rills. In this 'detailed geometry model' the spatial distribution of the erosive agents is shown to have a marked influence on the resulting processes and sediment concentrations. A potential description of the sediment transport across a change in land slope is also developed. Finally, a discussion of this new modelling approach is presented in which the conceptual developments of this thesis are considered and future developments are suggested. This discussion also includes a comparison of the outcomes of this new work with similar erosion models.

A new model of the erosion by water of cohesive soils is developed using physical principles. The theoretical framework which is developed recognises the changing nature of the eroding surface of a soil. Raindrop impact and overland flow are considered to act upon a soil surface so removing soil from the cohesive original (or parent) soil. Once this soil enters the overland flow, either as aggregates or primary particles, it is considered to return to the soil bed, from which it may be re-removed. The development of a deposited layer makes it necessary to distinguish between processes removing sediment from the original soil and those processes removing the deposited layer. This layer, being formed by the relatively gentle action of deposition during the current erosion event, is presumed cohesionless. The physical properties of the original soil and the deposited layer are considered to be very different. The development of two experimental apparatus, a rainfall/runoff simulator and a settling tube for the measurement of aggregate settling velocities, is first described. Experimental investigations, using these apparatus, and field observations to inform the description of the erosion and deposition processes, are then presented. The processes by which rainfall impact removes sediment from the original soil and the deposited layer are termed rainfall detachment and rainfall re-detachment respectively. Initially, descriptions of these processes in the presence of deposition, are combined in a model describing net rainfall detachment when removal of sediment from the flow bed by overland flow is not occurring. The developriient of the deposited layer is considered both quantitatively and qualitatively. The solution of the equation describing mass conservation is then given for the equilibrium situation when the mass of the deposited layer, and therefore the sediment concentration, is constant with respect to time. The processes by which overland flow removes sediment from the original soil and the deposited layer are termed entrainment and re-entrainment. The work done by the process of entrainment is considered to be done wholly against the cohesive strength of the original soil. In contrast to the process of entrainment, the work done in re-entraining sediment from the deposited layer is considered only to be done against gravity. The resulting description of these processes is then combined with the previous descriptions of rainfall detachment, rainfall re-detachment and deposition and with the equation describing the conservation of mass of sediment within any arbitary number of size (or settling velocity) classes. A plane geometry model Is developed in which the surface water flow is considered to be uniformily distributed across a plane slope on which all processes act. When the mass of the deposited layer is steady, two possible forms of equilibrium are shown to exist. When the coverage of the original soil by deposited layer is partial, the sediment concentration is limited by the removal of the cohesive original soil by entrainment and rainfall detachment, in the presence of deposition. This situation is termed 'source limiting' and is shown to provide a lower limit to sediment concentration. When the coverage of the deposited layer is complete so that entrainment and rainfall detachment of the original soil are considered not to occur, then the ability of the erosive agents to re-entrain and re-detach sediment in the presence of deposition limits sediment concentration. This situation, termed 'transport limiting', is shown to provide a practical upper limit to sediment concentration. This plane geometry flow model is followed by a revised model in which all processes are considered to occur but the flow of water on a plane surface is modified by the formation of rills. In this 'detailed geometry model' the spatial distribution of the erosive agents is shown to have a marked influence on the resulting processes and sediment concentrations. A potential description of the sediment transport across a change in land slope is also developed. Finally, a discussion of this new modelling approach is presented in which the conceptual developments of this thesis are considered and future developments are suggested. This discussion also includes a comparison of the outcomes of this new work with similar erosion models.
Thesis (PhD Doctorate)
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Division of Australian Environmental Studies
Science, Environment, Engineering and Technology
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