Rainfall pattern effects on crusting, infiltration and erodibility in some South African soils with various texture and mineralogy

Authors

  • Adornis D Nciizah Department of Agronomy, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, King Williams’ Town Road, Alice 5700, South Africa
  • Isaiah IC Wakindiki Department of Agronomy, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X1314, King Williams’ Town Road, Alice 5700, South Africa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.4314/wsa.v40i1.7

Keywords:

hydrology, penetration resistance, quartz, soil organic matter

Abstract

Rainfall characteristics affect crust formation, infiltration rate and erosion depending on intrinsic soil properties such as texture and mineralogy. The current study investigated the effects of rainfall pattern on crust strength, steady state infiltra­tion rate (SSIR) and erosion in soils with various texture and minerals. Soil samples from the top 0.2 m layer were exposed to 60 mm∙h-1 simulated rainfall. The rainfall was applied either as an 8-min single rainstorm (SR) or 4 x 2-min intermittent rainstorms (IR) separated by a 48 h drying period. Rainfall pattern significantly (p < 0.05) affected crust strength, SSIR and erosion. The IR resulted in higher crust strength and SSIR than SR. The effect of rainfall pattern on SSIR was mostly influenced by the primary minerals, namely, quartz. Therefore, the predicted shift from long duration to short duration rainstorms due to climate change is likely to enhance crust formation and soil loss in semi-arid areas such as the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa.

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Published

2025-03-31

Issue

Vol. 40 No. 1 January (2014): Water SA

Section

Research paper

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Adornis D Nciizah, Isaiah IC Wakindiki

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

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How to Cite

Adornis D Nciizah and Isaiah IC Wakindiki (2025) “Rainfall pattern effects on crusting, infiltration and erodibility in some South African soils with various texture and mineralogy”, Water SA, 40(1 January). doi:10.4314/wsa.v40i1.7.