Impact of Land Cover on Wind Erosion in Arid Regions: A Case Study in Southern Tunisia
Mohamed Taieb Labiadh,
Jean Louis Rajot,
Saâd Sekrafi,
Mohsen Ltifi,
Badie Attoui,
Abderrazak Tlili,
Moustapha Hlel,
Gilles Bergametti,
Thierry Henry des Tureaux,
Christel Bouet
Affiliations
Mohamed Taieb Labiadh
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), El Fjé, Medenine 4119, Tunisia
Jean Louis Rajot
Institut d’Ecologie et des Sciences de l’Environnement de Paris, UMR IRD 242, Univ Paris Est Creteil–Sorbonne Université–CNRS–INRAE–Université Paris Cité, F-93143 Bondy, France
Saâd Sekrafi
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), El Fjé, Medenine 4119, Tunisia
Mohsen Ltifi
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), El Fjé, Medenine 4119, Tunisia
Badie Attoui
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), El Fjé, Medenine 4119, Tunisia
Abderrazak Tlili
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), Kébili 4200, Tunisia
Moustapha Hlel
Institut des Régions Arides (IRA), Benguerdane 4160, Tunisia
Gilles Bergametti
LISA, Université Paris Cité and Univ Paris Est Creteil, CNRS, F-75013 Paris, France
Thierry Henry des Tureaux
Institut d’Ecologie et des Sciences de l’Environnement de Paris, UMR IRD 242, Univ Paris Est Creteil–Sorbonne Université–CNRS–INRAE–Université Paris Cité, F-93143 Bondy, France
Christel Bouet
Institut d’Ecologie et des Sciences de l’Environnement de Paris, UMR IRD 242, Univ Paris Est Creteil–Sorbonne Université–CNRS–INRAE–Université Paris Cité, F-93143 Bondy, France
Wind erosion is a worldwide phenomenon for which several recent studies have shown that the intensity is expected to evolve because of climate and land use changes. Identifying the areas where wind erosion is the most active and its associated drivers may help to define efficient solutions to protect the environment from this hazard. The south of Tunisia is a region highly prone to wind erosion and presents a variety of landscapes and land uses in a relatively small area. Thus, from November 2012 to June 2016, six sites were instrumented to monitor wind erosion in the most extended land uses existing in southern Tunisia. The main results are that wind erosion: (i) is nil in the oasis, (ii) is weak (−1 yr−1) in the olive grove even if the surface is be ploughed up to eight times a year, (iii) is moderate (~1000 kg m−1 yr−1) in the barley field, for which the sowing date is a driving parameter of wind erosion seasonality, (iv) can occur in the Chott El Jerid except when it is flooded, (v) is the most intense in rangelands on sand (~2500 kg m−1 yr−1) and on flatbeds (>3000 kg m−1 yr−1).
