Shoreline erosion: a cautionary note in using small farm dams to determine catchment erosion rates

Data from 10 small farm dams in SE Australia show that shoreline erosion due to farm livestock access to the dams can account for a significant proportion (up to 85%) of sediment contained in the dam. The volumes of sediment resulting from such shoreline erosion may be of the same order as the volumes produced by gully erosion in the dams' catchments, prompting caution in using farm dams to which livestock have access to determine small catchment erosion rates. Other issues, related to the trap efficiency, also mean that erosion estimates based on farm dam sedimentation should be treated with caution.