Study of the importance of splash and wash on cultivated loamy soils of Hesbaye (Belgium)

During 1974 and 1975, measurements of splash and wash were carried out in the cultivated area, in a station installed on 6·5 per cent slope covered with a loess in which a grey-brown podzolic soil has developed. Splash has been measured using an apparatus prepared for this purpose and wash has been measured on plots of standard length (22·13m). The splash is some tens t/ha.year but the splash loss calculated using the results of the measurements of splash is only a few tens kg/ha.year. Splash is positively correlated with the erosion index of the rains and with the structural stability but negatively with the crop cover. As splash, wash is positively correlated with the erosion index of the rains and negatively with the crop cover, but unlike splash it is negatively correlated with structural stability. The mean value of the wash loss is a few t/ha.year but very important differences are observed from one plot to another with regard to the structural stability. However, on a given plot wash loss and splash are positively correlated because the particles of soil detached by splash are easily carried off by runoff, but the relation between wash loss and splash is very different from one plot to another because splash is positively and wash loss negatively correlated with the structural stability of soils.