ABSTRACT
Soil erosion by water involves complex interactions between rainwater and soil, as influenced by soil properties and soil condition at the time of interaction. Depending on the constituents making up the soil and their relative proportions, soils may behave differently than rainfall and have different amounts of runoff and erosion. This chapter explains how soil chemical properties directly affect production of runoff and affects erosion processes and how these same properties may interact with time, leading to soil condition which further affects the interaction between soil and rainfall. Typically when soil quality is reduced, the infiltration rate decreases. This is largely due to changes in soil chemical properties that result in structural instability, causing clay dispersion and development of a thin surface seal. Understanding how soil chemical properties affect structural instability will result in management practices and strategies to amend the soil to improve its quality and control erosion while potentially improving yield.
