DEDUZIONE DEL FATTORE L DELLA USLE-MM NELLE PARCELLE SPERIMENTALI DI SPARACIA, IN SICILIA

The study developed an alternative model for estimating soil loss by parcel that also reproduces the experimentally deduced relationship between Ae and . The approach used is the USLE-MM, which presupposes the introduction of the parcel runoff coefficient into the set of independent variables. In the proposed model, the topographic factor L establishes an increasing relationship between Ae and , but soil loss due to a fixed rainfall event can also decrease with increasing length when, as experimentally verified, an increase in  is associated with a decrease in runoff. Verification of the proposed model with independent data sets and the development of simple methodologies for estimating the parcel runoff coefficient at the scale of a single rainfall event are two aspects that will facilitate the use of the USLE-MM for forecasting water erosion at the event scale.