Assessment of Erosion Hazard of Spring Meltwater in Various Agrolandscape Types in Ulyanovsk Region

The aim of the study was to determine the volume and assess the intensity of water erosion resulting from spring meltwater runoff in different agrolandscape types in Ulyanovsk region. The runoff and erosion study in the catchment area was conducted at Novonikulinskaya experimental station in Ulyanovsk region during a field experiment. The greatest expected spring moisture gain due to snowmelt in the space between strips occurs in the upland-plain agricultural landscape type. When erosion processes occurred as a result of spring runoff, the amount of washed away soil was distributed among the agricultural landscape types: upland-plain type - 0.05 t/ha; slope-hollow - 0.92 t/ha; slope-new-ravine - 1.47 t/ha. Over a more than 50-year period of anti-erosion elements operation, the water reserves in the snow increased by 20.9 mm and the volume of runoff decreased threefold (from 9.30 to 3.33 mm). The probability of runoff and soil erosion on sloping lands is 56.0% (14 out of 25 years of observations) in Ulyanovsk region. Annual crop production shortfall in Ulyanovsk region amounts to at least 267.400 hectares, with an average soil loss of 2.07 t/ha (1.908 million tons regionally). Humus losses are estimated at 92.400 tons, nitrogen and potassium at 2.500 tons, and phosphorus at 3.000 tons.