Flow hydraulics and sediment transport in rills of a sandy clay loam soil

Rill erosion is characterized by concentrated surface water flow, with enough shear stress and detachment capacity to deform the rill and alter flow hydraulics, responsible for rill formation dynamics. The objective of this study was to evaluate flow hydraulic conditions that can provide important information on erosion relationships, soil erodibility and sediment transport in furrows of a recently-tilled Palleudult. Rills were pre-formed in a sandy clay loam soil with an average slope of 0.067 m m(-1). Simulated rainfall with an intensity of 74 mm h(-1) was applied during 80 min, while rainfall and extra inflows of 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 L min(-1) were jointly applied for the last 20 min of each run in the rill. Results indicated that the rill flow regime varied from transitional subcritical to turbulent subcritical. The rill erosion detachment rates were linear to shear stress. Rill erodibility (Kr) was 0.0024 kg(-1) s(-1) N and critical shear stress (tau(c)) was 2.75 Pa. Two functions to predict sediment transport based on stream power explained 53% of data variability, which indicates the inherent difficulty of predicting solid transport through shallow flows on eroding agricultural lands, and the physical and mineralogical diversity of particles and aggregates of the studied soil.