An extensive
database of short to me
dium-term erosion rates as measure
d on erosion plots in Europe un
der natural rainfall was compile
d from the literature. Statistical analysis confirme
d the
dominant influence of lan
d use an
d cover on soil erosion rates. Sheet an
d rill erosion rates are highest on bare soil; vineyar
ds show the secon
d highest soil losses, followe
d by other arable lan
ds (spring crops, orchar
ds an
d winter crops). A lan
d with a permanent vegetation cover (shrubs, grasslan
d an
d forest) is characterise
d by soil losses which are generally more than an or
der of magnitu
de lower than those on arable lan
d. Disturbance of permanent vegetation by fire lea
ds to momentarily higher erosion rates but rates are still lower than those measure
d on arable lan
d. We also notice
d important regional
differences in erosion rates. Erosion rates are generally much lower in the Me
diterranean as compare
d to other areas in Europe; this is mainly attribute
d to the high soil stoniness in the Me
diterranean. Measure
d erosion rates on arable an
d bare lan
d were relate
d to topography (slope steepness an
d length) an
d soil texture, while this was not the case for plots with a permanent lan
d cover. We attribute this to a fun
damental
difference in runoff generation an
d se
diment transfer accor
ding to lan
d cover types.
On the basis of these results we calculated mean sheet and rill erosion rates for the European area covered by the CORINE database: estimated rill and interrill erosion rates are ca. 1.2 t ha− 1 year− 1 for the whole CORINE area and ca. 3.6 t ha− 1 year− 1 for arable land. These estimates are much lower than some earlier estimates which were based on the erroneous extrapolation of small datasets. High erosion rates occur in areas dominated by vineyards, the hilly loess areas in West and Central Europe and the agricultural areas located in the piedmont areas of the major European mountain ranges.