Modeling Soil Erosion with Cesium-137

Modeling Soil Erosion with Cesium-137

2014

In order to develop landscape-scale estimates of soil erosion in Minnesota's agricultural landscapes, we conducted a broad survey study of 137Cs in cultivated fields and uncultivated grassland reference sites located across the southern third of Minnesota. Because the only source of 137Cs is nuclear fission and it binds tightly to soils, landscapes were labeled" with 137Cs during aboveground testing of nuclear weapons in the 1950s and 1960s. As a result of this

Dalzell, Brent
Fissore, Cinzia
Nater, Edward A.

U of M, Dept. of Soil, Water and Climate
Dept. of Biology and Environmental Science, Whittier College
U of M, Dept. of Soil, Water and Climate

Minnesota Board of Water and Soil Resources
UM Department of Soil, Water, and Climate
Whittier College

22

Surface Water
Water Conveyance & Hydraulics
Water Economics

soil erosion
soil erosions
soil-erosion
soil-erosions
erosion
erosions
erode
eroding
erodes
water quality & pollutants
water quality and pollutants
agriculture drainage
agriculture drainages
agricultural drainage
ag drainage
soil erosion model
soil erosion modeling

2010-2019

No

regression models were developed with the goal of broadly predicting soil erosion rates based on topographic characteristics. Digital terrain attributes were calculated from LiDAR-derived (Light Detection And Ranging) digital elevation models and then used as predictor terms in regression model development. Resulting models showed that: (1) profile curvature

Public Domain

Minnesota Water Research Digital Library