Dear Dennis,

This would depend on many things:

* the precise objectives of the study;

* whether it was a seeking to understand the science of erosion and the mechanisms of sediment entrainment and downslope removal - or simply obtain an estimate of soil erosion rate;

* which processes are expected;

* whether pre-or post-modelling is involved;

* how many 200m2 plots you are using

* the site characteristics

* how often you could return to the site

* what assistance with measurements and resources you can call on

* and whether you intend to publish the results in international journals (e.g. Hydrological Processes; Earth Surface Processes and Landforms; Water Resources Research; Geomorphology; Journal of Environmental Quality etc.) where, as for most fields, certain technical and methodological conventions will be expected by the Editors and reviewers – for good reasons.

There is also a balance to be struck between (a) having a sufficient sample of erosion pins to deliver a reasonably representative soil erosion rate, and (b) the problem of too many pins, which, by their physical presence - or the soil trampling associated with their periodic recording, may then interfere with the controlling processes (e.g. soil wash in your project - but there may also be gully erosion and wind erosion and biological processes too to watch out for?) - and therefore the erosion rates themselves.

It’s often useful to inform your sampling methodology by using the strong studies published in the international journals and/or by Soil Conservation organisations around the world (try searching Google Scholar, Scopus or Web of Science etc.). You can then also state in your report/paper that you modelled your experimental design on recommendations from key authors in the field. For example, besides the classic USA soil erosion papers, see work by the Belgium group (e.g. de Vente, Jean Poesen, Gert Verstraeten 2007 Progress in Physical Geography, 31; pp.155 - 177: DOI: 10.1177/0309133307076485). This paper also has a great summary of soil erosion rates measured in Italian erosion plots of various sizes and characteristics (their Table 2). See also work by A.J. Parsons; P. Kinnell; P. Gao etc.

I’ve written a review of river bank erosion measurement methods, which includes some slope and gully erosion measurement methodology material, and I’ve also developed AUTOMATED techniques for continuous monitoring of erosion rates and events which improve process inference (the Photo-Electronic Erosion Pin (PEEP) sensors, and Thermal Consonance Timing systems), which have been applied by ~35 research groups around the world for erosion dynamics studies in rivers, gullies, beaches, tidal erosion systems etc. I’ll attach a couple of papers here which may be of interest.

Good luck! Damian

[email protected]

Papers attached here! Damian

The review of river bank erosion measurement methods published in ESPL is attached here, which includes some slope and gully erosion measurement methodology.

Damian

Thank you Sir. Please can you send the paper to me as attachment to my mail; [email protected]

Thank you Sir. Please send the papers to me thruogh my email, cos i cant assess the link. [email protected]

It is very important question in soil erosion. The FAO has laid down no such guidelines. It depends on as how many patches of soils in terms of local knowledge of their wash-ability and size.