Effect of Rainfall Characteristics on Runoff and Water Erosion for Different Land Uses in a Tropical Semiarid Region

Julio Cesar Neves Santos (), Eunice Maia Andrade, Pedro Henrique Augusto Medeiros, Maria João Simas Guerreiro and Helba Araújo Queiroz Palácio
Additional contact information
Julio Cesar Neves Santos: Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Triângulo Mineiro – IFTM
Eunice Maia Andrade: Research and Extension Group on Water and Soil Management in the Brazilian Semiarid – MASSA
Pedro Henrique Augusto Medeiros: Research and Extension Group on Water and Soil Management in the Brazilian Semiarid – MASSA
Maria João Simas Guerreiro: Research and Extension Group on Water and Soil Management in the Brazilian Semiarid – MASSA
Helba Araújo Queiroz Palácio: Research and Extension Group on Water and Soil Management in the Brazilian Semiarid – MASSA

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), 2017, vol. 31, issue 1, No 12, 173-185

Abstract: Abstract Rainfall intensity, duration, frequency and magnitude influence both runoff generation and sediment yield. In this study, 176 rainfall events over a five-year period were classified into four regimes based on rainfall depth, duration and 30-minute maximum intensity, using hierarchical cluster analysis in the semiarid region of Brazil. Rainfall Regimes were grouped from higher to lower rainfall depth, longer to shorter duration, and higher to lower I30. Rainfall regime impact on surface runoff and sediment yield was studied in three watersheds under different land use - native tropical dry forest, thinned tropical dry forest, and slash and burn followed by grass cultivation. Thinning of native dry tropical forest reduced surface runoff and sediment yield due to the protective effect of the well-developed herbaceous layer. Runoff generation in the three watersheds showed strong dependence on antecedent soil moisture and the type of rain. Rainfall depth was the major factor for highest sediment yields.

Keywords: Rainfall characteristics; Rainfall regimes; Runoff; Water erosion; Clustering technique (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11269-016-1517-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:waterr:v:31:y:2017:i:1:d:10.1007_s11269-016-1517-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11269

DOI: 10.1007/s11269-016-1517-1

Access Statistics for this article

Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) is currently edited by G. Tsakiris

More articles in Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA) from Springer, European Water Resources Association (EWRA)
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().