Chapter 1

Introduction to Soil Erosion and Landscape Evolution

Modeling

William W. Doe III! and Russell S. Harmon2

lColorado State University. Ju.s. Army Research Laboratory

1. SOIL EROSION MANAGEMENT AND MODEL

DEVELOPMENT

Landscapes evolve under the influence of a complex suite of natural

processes, many of which may be either directly or indirectly influenced by
land use. Soil erosion is a natural landscape process of critical concern to
many land management agencies. As a geomorphic process, soil erosion can
be generally defined as the detachment and transport of in-situ soil particles
by three natural agents - water (in liquid or ice form), wind, and gravity
(down slope movement). The consequences of soil erosion are both the
removal and loss of soil particles from one location and their subsequent
deposition in another location, either on the land surface or in an adjoining
watercourse. A single soil particle may undergo multiple cycles of removal
and deposition over time spans ranging from a single-event (e.g., hours) to
geologic time (e.g., decades or centuries). Naturally occurring soil erosion
processes (detachment, transport, deposition) can be accelerated by
anthropogenic activities.
Land uses which contribute directly to erosion include such activities as
road and building construction, forestry, agriculture, mining, recreation, and
military training and testing. Many of these activities commonly occur
across large areas of the landscape over multiple events. Consequently, their
impacts are both spatially and temporally distributed. These impacts include
the loss of fertile topsoil for agriculture, gullying and non-point source

Landscape Erosion and Evolution Modeling, edited by Harmon & and Doe III,
Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers, New York, 2001. 1
2 Doe and Harmon

pollution or sedimentation of receiving watercourses and water bodies.

Severe erosion, induced by land use activities, may alter the trajectory of
landscape evolution, resulting in an unstable geomorphic system. Secondary
impacts on ecological and hydrological systems may create feedback loops
that further contribute to landscape degradation. In some cases, the
landscape may be altered to a degree that practically prevents remediation to
its original condition.
Land resource agencies employ soil erosion management practices, often
called best management practices on a watershed scale, to minimize or
mitigate the deleterious effects (e.g., soil erosion) of associated land uses.
Land management practices, both structural and non-structural, may be
employed at various spatial scales, from plot-sized (one acre or less) areas to
entire watersheds. Structural measures include the construction of sediment
detention berms, settling basins, and the application of gravel or geotextile
materials to dirt trails and roads. Non-structural measures include artificial
seeding, planting/fertilizing of vegetation, designating off-limits or limited
use areas, or limiting the timing (e.g., seasonal, dry, etc.) of certain activities.
The objective of land management practices is to minimize the human-
induced impacts, while maximizing use (production) of the land for its
designated purposes. The success or failure of these practices must be
measured against identified management goals or criteria.
Landscapes and the associated processes that produce them are dynamic
and spatially and temporally varied. Their tolerance and response to both
natural agents and anthropogenic influences is a function of many
interdependent variables. This tolerance-response system can be analyzed by
examining the behavior of individual landscape parameters, such as
vegetation, soils, or water, or holistically through ecosystem, watershed or
landscape-scale field studies. Such approaches are both time-consuming and
costly.
Landscape evolution and soil erosion modeling provides an alternative
means of simulating and studying both the short-term and long-term
consequences of land use activities on the natural system. Such models can
reveal previously unknown information about the interaction of complex
variables and allow for alternative land use strategies to be compared and
evaluated before they are implemented. Often, such models provide the
foundation for developing Decision Support Systems that can be used by
land managers to mitigate undesirable consequences ofland use activities.
Landscape evolution and soil erosion models are generally developed for
two basic reasons, research and practical application. Research models are
not intended, initially, for practical use in the field. Rather, they are intended
to explore the dynamics of soil-water processes and to gain a better scientific
understanding of the complex relationships between variables. Such models
may be developed for a single component of the soil erosion process (e.g.,