Characteristics of Soil Water Runoff and Percolation in Sloped Land with Different Soil Textures

Soil loss induced by erosion has come to be a serious problem in Korea's sloped land since more than 70% of upland fields are located on the sloped land area. The purpose of this study was to investigate the phase of water flow in differently soil textured plot soil types by rainfall amount. Lysimeters with slope of 15%, 5 m in length, 2 m in width, and 1 m in depth were prepared and filled up with three different soil textures, such as sandy loam, loam, and clay loam, then relationships between seasonal rainfall and runoff, percolation were analyzed. Runoff and percolation rate were shown to increase linearly with increasing rainfall intensity in all the soil textures, but the starting threshold and increment rate in runoff and percolation occurrence were dependent differently upon soil textures. Percolation increment rate according to the increasing rainfall amount was 0.52, 0.36, and 0.57 for sandy loam, loam and clay loam soil respectively. The threshold rainfall amounts in which percolation occurs were 5.73 mm, 6.80 mm, and 12.86 mm for sandy loam, loam and clay loam respectively. Runoff increment rates were 0.42, 0.48 and 0.46 for sandy loam, loam and clay loam soil. The threshold rainfall amount in which runoff occurs was 10.50 mm in sandy loam, 7.76 mm in loam and 17.40 mm in clay loam. These different phases of water flow by soil texture could be used to suggest guidelines for the best management practice of the farming slope land.