Use of the mass exchange theory for describing soil erosion by water and wind.

Gendugov, V.; Glazunov, G.; Larionov, G.; Nazarov, N.

It was shown that the soil loss equation for different types of erosion should and can be theoretically derived in a general form. An analogy was drawn between the detachment of soil particles by water or air flows, on the one hand, and the heat and mass exchange in the boundary layer on a plate flowed around by a flow, on the other hand, which allowed finding the thermodynamic parameters of the circumfluent flow analogous to the mechanical parameters of a flow eroding the soil. On this basis, the Clausius-Clapeyron equation for equilibrium sublimation was transformed into an equation describing the removal of soil by both water and wind. The validity of the obtained equation for the description of the soil loss rate as a function of the eroding flow parameters was confirmed using the data on the physical simulation of wind erosion in wind tunnels and water erosion in hydraulic flumes. The confirmed adequacy of the derived equation to the phenomena of soil erosion by water and wind provides the theoretical substantiation of the equations previously derived for soil loss by washing [6] and blowing [3] and forms the basis for the further development of the theory of soil erosion.

SOIL mechanics; SOIL erosion research; ATMOSPHERIC boundary layer; WIND erosion; WIND tunnels

Eurasian Soil Science, 2012, Vol 45, Issue 2, p182

1064-2293

Academic Journal

10.1134/S1064229312020093