Soil Erosion Engineering.

Abstract

This article presents a broad review of the physical process of soil erosion, but with the main focus on the approaches, forms of equations, and techniques commonly adopted to quantify the rate of soil detachment in an erosion event. While presenting some of the commonly used equations, the emphasis is placed on the physical significance of the associated parameters and the general weaknesses of the equations. The two main parameters of the existing equations, namely the critical condition for erosion and soil erodibility, are evaluated in this article with respect to the factors affecting them. In addition, the impacts of flow and moisture variations in the soil that are commonly neglected while defining soil erosion components and parameters are also discussed. The conclusion of this article is that there is a need to derive a more fundamental equation for predicting the soil detachment rate. As a step in that direction, a conceptual clarification of the mechanism of soil detachment, is presented. Some fundamental concepts that may be useful in deriving a more physically and engineering-based soil detachment equation are also introduced