Volume 34, N. 3, September-December 2011 | DOWNLOAD PDF(14 downloads)
Abstract
This paper presents a parametric study on erodibility of soils which occurs in Southern Brazil. Different methodologies were carried out and soils more vulnerable to these phenomena were identified. The research lays mainly on erodibility criteria based on infiltrability tests, weight loss by immersion, direct shear tests and modified Inderbitzen tests. Results obtained allowed a comparison and interpretation of the erosive potential of some soil units from the states of Paraná, Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul. By the applied methodologies and their respective criteria, it was observed that Cambisols units present a high erosive potential compared to other soils studied, like Latosols and Red-Yellow Podzolic soils. It was also observed that fine sandy soils were more vulnerable to erosion despite the fact of belonging to the same group. This was due to the different degree of weathering of the stratum from where samples were obtained. Finally, the results also showed that it seems to be possible to successfully correlate the erosive potential of soils with simple indices, which may reflect the characteristics related to certain peculiarities of the soil, such as specific gravity.
