ABSTRACT

Until recently, two extreme scales of approach have dominated the literature on prediction of hillslope erosion: those of small-plot studies identifying between-site variations in plot properties and plot responses (e.g. Bork & Rohdenburg 1981), and those of larger hillslope studies based on gross indicators of runoff and sediment yield (e.g. Yair & Enzel 1987). Each of these approaches fails to account for within-site variability. The former studies, while accounting for variable responses to a single event as a result of different plot characteristics, do not incorporate the inflow that naturally occurs at any location due to context within the hillslope system, and hence fail to include flow concentration effects. In the latter studies, sources of variability cannot be disaggregated.