Runoff and sediment yield in a semi-arid environment: the effect of land management after farmland abandonment

This paper deals with the evolution of abandoned fields in semi-arid environments. The study has been carried out in the Central Ebro Depression, NE Spain, where large areas traditionally cropped with cereals alternating with fallow have been recently set-aside, following the agrarian policy of the European Union. Most of the information has been obtained using a rainfall simulator on 220 m², open plots, reproducing six possible land-uses: control plot 1 (abandoned), control plot 2 (abandoned, adding chemical fertilizer), cereal, fallow land, fallow land with organic fertilizer and fallow land with chemical fertilizer. The results obtained show that abandoned land produces a very quick response to precipitation, high peak flows and runoff coefficients, and a shallow wetting front, confirming the effects of the low density of plant cover and the development of a microcrust. Fertilizing fallow land plots increases the penetration of the wetting front, with moderate impact on the other hydrologic parameters. The study demonstrates that (i) surface runoff is controlled by the addition (or not) of fertilizer; and (ii) sediment concentration is mostly controlled by ploughing.