Earth (Aug 2021)

Examination of Susceptibility to the Deficiency of Soil Water in a Forested Agricultural Area

  • Wiktor Halecki,
  • Stanisław Łyszczarz

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/earth2030031
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 2, no. 3
pp. 532 – 543

Abstract

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Mountainous regions present numerous obstacles to agriculture. These include the terrain, which is associated with surface erosion, as well as surface runoff, which washes away plant nutrients and weak soil. Spatial analysis is currently used in the study of various stochastic variables, especially those of high priority for soil water properties. Small watershed and basin-scale models were used to simulate the quantity of surface run-off, groundwater and predict the environmental impact of land use and land management practices. A new generation of the distributed hydrological models has greatly broadened simulation fields to soil and water diversified situations. The study also measured declines in slope and grain size distribution, factors impacting surface erosion and surface runoff. Multivariate statistics (canonical analysis) showed that soil moisture was most correlated both with agricultural land and forests, which is why it was used to create the model of spatial distribution. The model showed that salinity has the smallest forecast error in modeling, and thus best corresponds with the soil moisture. It is important to make a correct diagnosis of soil properties, and the degree of degradation. The assessment of the physiographic parameters of a basin will contribute to the development of proper usage and determine the quality of the water in the soil, which will be essential for forest resources and agricultural land in mountain areas exposed to surface erosion.

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