Effects of structural and depositional crusts on soil erosion on the Loess Plateau of China

Conventional tillage practices used on the Loess Plateau lead to different soil surface micro-topography which results in forming two types of soil crusts. The objective of this study was to explore the formation position, properties and erosion characteristics of structural crusts and depositional crusts under the influences of the microtopography in the rainfall experiments. Two simulated rainstorms were applied in the experiments. The first rainfall event was used for soil crust formation, then the following simulated rainfall storms at 40 mm h 1, 60 mm h 1, and 80 mm h 1 rates were applied to the soil boxes set to a 17.6% (10 degrees) slope under three tillage types (contour tillage, artificial digging, and straight slope conditions) to investigate the resulting runoff discharge rate and sediment yield on crusted soil surface. Results show that: (1) structural crusts formed on the mounds, and depositional crusts formed in the depressions after the first rainfall events; structural crusts exhibit a lower thickness, bulk density, higher porosity and shear strength than depositional crusts; (2) structural crusts increased the runoff yield less and decreased the sediment yield more than depositional crusts; and (3) the runoff yield was significantly greater, and the sediment yield was lower on the crusted soil surface than that on the uncrusted soil surface, regardless of the effect of the tillage treatments.