Soil Erosion And Sediment Production On Watershed Landscapes

Losses of the soil resources from otherwise productive and well functioning watersheds is often a recurring problem confronting hydrologists and watershed managers. These losses of soil have both on-site and off-site effects on the watershed impacted. In addition to the loss of inherent soil resources through erosion processes, on-site effects can include the breakdown of soil structure, a decline in organic matter and nutrients in the soil, and a reduction in available soil moisture (Morgan 1995, Gregersen et al. 2007, Brooks et al. 2013). The net impact of these on-site effects can be a loss of productivity that leads to a decline in the values of the natural resources on watershed landscapes.