Abstract

Two physically substantiated soil loss equations are offered. The first equation describes soil erosion in any point of a watershed at a single rainfall. The second equation describes soil loss from a slope for a long-term period and its form coincides with the equation USLE. The data of ten runoff recording stations are used to test and calibrate the equations. The comparison of the second equation with the USLE and RUSLE equations gave analytical dependences for the factors included in these empirical equations. The accuracy of the soil loss computation when using the offered equation and the one when using the USLE for seven runoff recording stations in the USA are approximately equal. The analysis of the second equation showed that the USLE is applicable for the conditions of “severe” erosion. A criterion of applicability of the USLE for other climatic conditions is also offered.

Keywords: rainfall soil erosion, modeling, new equations, substantiation of the USLE.