Modeling Approaches to Assess Soil Erosion by Water at the Field Scale with Special Emphasis on Heterogeneity of Soils and Crops

Ahsan Raza, Hella Ahrends, Muhammad Habib-Ur-Rahman and Thomas Gaiser
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Ahsan Raza: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Crop Science Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Hella Ahrends: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Crop Science Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Muhammad Habib-Ur-Rahman: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Crop Science Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115 Bonn, Germany
Thomas Gaiser: Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation (INRES), Crop Science Group, University of Bonn, Katzenburgweg 5, 53115 Bonn, Germany

Land, 2021, vol. 10, issue 4, 1-35

Abstract: Information on soil erosion and related sedimentation processes are very important for natural resource management and sustainable farming. Plenty of models are available for studying soil erosion but only a few are suitable for dynamic soil erosion assessments at the field-scale. To date, there are no field-scale dynamic models available considering complex agricultural systems for the simulation of soil erosion. We conducted a review of 51 different models evaluated based on their representation of the processes of soil erosion by water. Secondly, we consider their suitability for assessing soil erosion for more complex field designs, such as patch cropping, strip cropping and agroforestry (alley-cropping systems) and other land management practices. Several models allow daily soil erosion assessments at the sub-field scale, such as EPIC, PERFECT, GUEST, EPM, TCRP, SLEMSA, APSIM, RillGrow, WaNuLCAS, SCUAF, and CREAMS. However, further model development is needed with respect to the interaction of components, i.e., rainfall intensity, overland flow, crop cover, and their scaling limitations. A particular shortcoming of most of the existing field scale models is their one-dimensional nature. We further suggest that platforms with modular structure, such as SIMPLACE and APSIM, offer the possibility to integrate soil erosion as a separate module/component and link to GIS capabilities, and are more flexible to simulate fluxes of matter in the 2D/3D dimensions. Since models operating at daily scales often do not consider a horizontal transfer of matter, such modeling platforms can link erosion components with other environmental components to provide robust estimations of the three-dimensional fluxes and sedimentation processes occurring during soil erosion events.

Keywords: erosion and sedimentation processes; model categorization; complex cropping systems; governing equations; application (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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