III.

FACTOR INFLUENCING
EROSION
Secara hubungan fungsional, erosi terjadi
karena interaksi kerja dari iklim, topografi,
vegetasi dan manusia terhadap tanah
yang dinyatakan dalam persamaan
E= ] (i, r, v, t, m)

CLIMATE
Climate factors affecting erosion:
Rainfall
Temperature
Wind
Humidity
Solar radiation
Soil loss is closely related to rainfall
partly through the detaching power of raindrops
partly through the contribution of rain to runoff
Rainfall parameters related to erosion
Rainfall intensity
the quantity of rainfall for a certain time period. i.e: mm/hr
Rainfall duration
Raindrop size and
distribution
Terminal velocity
Rainfall Erosivity
Is the potential ability of rain to cause
erosion
Closely related to energy of rainfall (kinetic
energy)
Formulas for kinetic energy of rainfall:
Wischmeier and Smith (1958)

KE is kinetic energy in J/m2.mm and I is rainfall
intensity in mm/h
In metric unit: Where KE in ton.m/ha.cm and I in cm/h
I KE log 73 . 8 87 . 11 + =
Hudson (1965) for tropical area


Zanchi and Torri (1980)

Onaga, Shirai and Yoshinaga (1988)




I
KE
5 . 127
8 . 29 =
I KE log 25 . 11 81 . 9 + =
I KE log 6 . 10 81 . 9 + =
Wischmeier and Smith (1958) : soil loss by
splash, overland flow and rill erosion is related to
a compound index of kinetic energy and
maximum 30-minute intensity (I
30
)
called EI
30
index
Hudson (1965) : erosion is almost entirely
caused by rain falling at intensity greater
than 25 mm/h called KE>25 index

EI
30
= 2,34 (CH
m
)
1,98

Dimana R = erosivitas hujan bulanan,
(Rain) m = curah hujan bulanan (cm), nilai
R setahun diperoleh dengan
menjumlahkan RM selama setahun.



RE menyatakan rata-rata indeks erosivitas
hujan (unit/bulan), Q menyatakan rata-rata
jumlah hujan bulanan (cm/bulan), Pm
menyatakan rata-rata curah hujan
maksimal per hari (cm), dan D
menyatakan jumlah hari hujan per bulan.

|
|
.
|

\
|
=
349 , 0
678 , 0 263 , 2
* 056 , 40
*
D
Pm Q
RE
SOIL
Correspond to soil detachability and soil
transportability
Erodibility : the resistance of the soil to erosion
Erodibility | will suffer more erosion
Erodibility varies with :
Soil texture
Aggregate stability
Organic matters
Shear strength
Infiltration capacity
Chemical content
Erodibility indices
Wischmeier and Mannering (1969)


M : particle size parameter (% silt+% very fine
sand)x(100-% clay)
a : percent organic matter
b : soil structure code (1. very fine granular; 2. fine
granular; 3. medium or coarse granular; and 4.
blocky, platy or massive
c : profile permeability class ( 1. rapid; 2. moderate to
rapid; 3. moderate; 4. slow to moderate; 5. slow; and
6. very slow)

) 3 ( 10 3 . 3 ) 2 ( 10 3 . 4 ) 12 ( 10 8 . 2 100
3 3 14 . 1 7
+ + =

c x b x a M x K

VEGETATION
Vegetation acts as a protective layer or buffer between
the atmosphere and the soil
The major effects of vegetation in reducing erosion :
Interception of rainfall by adsorbing the energy of the raindrops
canopy cover, and thus reducing surface sealing and runoff
Retardation of erosion by decreased surface velocity
Physical restraint of soil movement
Improvement of aggregation and porosity of the soil by roots and
plant residue
Increase biological activity in the soil
Transpiration, which decrease soil water resulting in increased
storage capacity and less runoff
Varies with:
Season
Crop
Degree of maturity of vegetation
Soil
Climates
The mean annual soil loss was 43 t/ha for
bare plot, and 3.8 t/ha for the covered plot
(Zanchi, 1983)
TOPOGRAFI
Topographic features that
influence erosion:
Degree of slope
On steep slope resulting
runoff water is more
erosive and can more
easily transport detached
sediment downslope
Mc Cool et al (1987) :
slope steepness factor
for slope < 4 m for slope
> 4 m and s < 9 % for
slope > 4 m and s > 9 %
where u : field slope
steepness in degrees =
tan
-1
(s/100)
s = field slope in percent
Length of slope
Longer slope were
more runoff
accumulates and
greater erosive forces
McCool et al (1989) :
length factor




l : slope length in m
m
l
L |
.
|

\
|
=
22
05 . 0 ) (sin 269 . 0 sin
sin
8 . 0
+ +
=
u u
u
m
Wischmeier and Smith (1978) formulating
slope and length factor as:


n : 0.5 for convex slope, 0.4 for straight
slope and 0.14 for concave slope

) 0065 . 0 045 . 0 065 . 0 (
13 . 22
2
s s
l
LS
n
+ +
|
.
|

\
|
=
Shape of slope
Convex. The intensity
of erosion processes
reach the maximum at
the bottom part
Concave. The intensity
of erosion processes
reach the maximum at
the end of the upper
part
straight (uniform)
combine
HUMAN
Dari semua faktor di atas, faktor manusialah
yang sebenarnya paling menentukan apakah
tanah yang diusahakannya akan rusak atau
lestari. Banyak faktor dari manusia yang
menentukan perlakuan manusia terhadap
sumber daya tanah, antara lain: (1) luas tanah
pertanian yang diusahakan; (2) sistem
pengelolaan yang dilakukan; (3) status
penguasaan tanah; (4) tingkat pengetahuan dan
penguasaan teknologi; (5) harga produk
pertanian; (6) pajak; (7) pasar dan input
pertanian; dan (8) infrastruktur dan fasilitas.