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SOIL & WATER MANAGEMENT & CONSERVATION

Testing a Grid-Based Soil Erosion Model across Topographically Complex Landscapes

^a Facultad de Agronomía e Ingeniería Forestal, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Macul, Santiago, Chile
^b Dep. of Soil Science, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1525 Observatory Dr., Madison, WI 53706
^c Cooperative Inst. for Meteorological Satellite Studies, Space Science and Engineering Center, Univ. of Wisconsin, 1225 W. Dayton St., Madison, WI 53706
^d Biological Systems Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin, 460 Henry Mall, Madison, WI 53706
^e Waterborne Environmental, Inc., 701 Devonshire Dr., Suite B15, Champaign, IL 61820

^* Corresponding author (cbonilla{at}uc.cl).

This study was conducted to evaluate the overall performance of the Precision Agricultural-Landscape Modeling System (PALMS) for calculating runoff and soil loss under cropped conditions. The PALMS model uses a lognormal distribution of saturated hydraulic conductivity across the fields to simulate typical soil heterogeneity within soil texture classes. Runoff and soil loss data were collected in three farm fields for a total of 75 runoff events during 2 yr under six cropping scenarios (alfalfa [Medicago sativa L.] and corn [Zea mays L.] no-tilled, corn and soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] moldboard plowed, and alfalfa and corn chisel plowed). For individual storms, calculated runoff and sediment loss from PALMS were compared with corresponding measurements for each farm during the entire cropping season. The coefficient of determination (r²) between runoff calculations and measurements was 0.84. The r² between soil loss calculations and measurements with the storm-by-storm simulations during both seasons was 0.78. Based on these continuous simulation results, the PALMS calculations appear to have lower relative errors with large events than small events, a desirable result because large events are most important in assessing the environmental consequences of management practices.

Abbreviations: DEM, digital elevation model • EPIC, Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator • ME, model efficiency • PALMS, Precision Agricultural-Landscape Modeling System • RUSLE, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation • USLE, Universal Soil Loss Equation • WEPP, Water Erosion Prediction Project