Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Youssef, Feras
• Visser, Saskia M.
• Karssenberg, Derek
• Erpul, Gunay
• Cornelis, Wim M.
• Gabriels, Donald
• Poortinga, Ate

Titel

The effect of vegetation patterns on wind-blown mass transport at the regional scale: A wind tunnel experiment

Ist Teil von

• Geomorphology (Amsterdam, Netherlands), 2012-07, Vol.159-160, p.178-188

Ort / Verlag

Amsterdam: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Wind erosion is a global environmental problem. Re-vegetating land is a commonly used method to reduce the negative effects of wind erosion. However, there is limited knowledge on the effect of vegetation pattern on wind-blown mass transport. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of vegetation pattern on this phenomenon within a land unit and at the border between land units. Wind tunnel experiments were conducted with artificial shrubs representing Atriplex halimus. Wind runs at a speed of 11m s–1 were conducted and sand translocation was measured after 200–230s using a graph paper prepared for this purpose. This research showed that: 1) the transport within a land unit is affected by the neighboring land units and by the vegetation pattern within both the unit itself and the neighboring land units; 2) re-vegetation plans for degraded land can take into account the ‘streets’ effect (zones of erosion areas similar to streets); 3) the effect of neighboring land units includes sheltering effect and the regulation of sediment passing from one land unit to the neighboring land units and 4) in addition to investigation of the general effect of vegetation pattern on erosion and deposition within the region, it is important to investigate the redistribution of sediment at smaller scales depending on the scope of the project. ► Maximum sediment transport within a land is affected by the neighboring land units. ► Land-borders affect the sheltering area and regulate the wind-blown sediment. ► For re-vegetation of degraded lands the vegetation patterns should be considered. ► Distribution of sediment at small scale is important when vegetate degraded land.