Spatial distribution of wind-driven sediment transport rate in a fallow plot in Central Anatolia, Turkey

Wind erosion is a serious land degradation phenomenon in semi-arid parts of Turkey. It is even becoming more critical problem considering the current effects of global warming and climate change in the region. The objectives of this study are to model spatial variation of aeolian sediment transport and to map Sediment Transport Rate (STR) by geostatistics in a fallow plot in the Central Anatolia. STRs for four consecutive wind cases with different vegetation cover rates were determined using the cyclone BEST sediment traps. Plant cover ratio and height changed between 8 and 25% and 3-12cm throughout the research period, respectively, and soil moistures ranged between 10.9 and 12.7%. The windstorms lasted for 400, 835, 1240, and 50 minutes with the mean wind velocities of 8.6, 7.7, 7.7, and 6.3ms(-1), respectively, for cases 1, 2, 3, and 4. The calculated STRs varied between 0.0248 +/- 0.0170kgm(-1)h(-1) and 0.190 +/- 0.084kgm(-1)h(-1). Spatial analysis revealed that the spatial correlations were between 19 and 48m and different spatial patterns occurred from one case to another. The study results indicated that the amount of transported sediment and its spatial variation were mostly related to velocity and duration of erosive wind in the fallow area of the arid region.