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Transport of soil and nutrients by wind in bush fallow land and traditionally managed cultivated fields in the Sahel

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Relation http://oar.icrisat.org/7770/
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7061(02)00138-6
 
Title Transport of soil and nutrients by wind in bush fallow land and traditionally managed cultivated fields in the Sahel
 
Creator Bielders, C L
Rajot, J L
Amadou, M
 
Subject Soil Science
 
Description In the West African Sahel, few direct measurements are currently available for the major land-use types on the extent of soil losses by wind erosion. A measurement campaign was therefore carried out in 1997 to monitor windblown sediment fluxes using Big Spring Number Eight (BSNE) sand-traps in a conventionally managed cultivated field and bush fallow in western Niger. Sediment balances were derived from the measured windblown sediment mass fluxes. Results indicate that sediment fluxes in a cultivated field increased linearly over distances up to 76 m irrespective of wind speed and duration. Sediment deposition over distances up to 47 m in an adjacent bush fallow was well described by an exponential decay function with a near constant trapping efficiency coefficient of 0.11 m−1 for incoming sediment mass fluxes between 10 and 45 kg m−1. Soil mass balances up to −17.5 and +10.5 Mg ha−1 were measured in a single storm in the field and fallow, respectively. However, 89% of the sediment deposition observed in the fallow occurred within the first 20 m. The nutrient content of windblown sediment generally declined with distance into the field and increased with distance into the bush fallow. Because of the low nutrient content of the native soil, total nutrient losses remained very low (
 
Publisher Elsevier
 
Date 2002
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Language en
 
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Identifier http://oar.icrisat.org/7770/1/Geoderma_109_19-39_2002.pdf
Bielders, C L and Rajot, J L and Amadou, M (2002) Transport of soil and nutrients by wind in bush fallow land and traditionally managed cultivated fields in the Sahel. Geoderma, 109 (1-2). pp. 19-39. ISSN 0016-7061