Preliminary results of 137 Cs activity in a soil erosion toposequence in cuenca (castilla la mancha, central spain)

The soil redistribution due to the conventional tillage practices represents a very severe process of soil erosion and degradation in Mediterranean agricultural lands. The existing methods for soil erosion assessment can be grouped into two main categories: erosion modelling and prediction methods and erosion measurement methods. The use of environmental radionuclides, in particular 137 Cs, overcomes many of the limitations associated with traditional approaches and has been shown as an effective way of studying erosion and deposition. Its determination and the study of the characters of soils in a sequence permits know the control of the erosion. The objective of this study was to determine the soil erosion rates using 137 Cs activities concentrations in a typical Mediterranean environment; the Chillaron basin (Cuenca, Castilla La Mancha, Spain). (Author) 9 refs.