Impact of Rainfall Patterns on Soil and Water Losses in Pasture and Maize Cultivation in the Cerrado–Amazon Transition Zone

Soil erosion is a critical global challenge and presents particularly alarming characteristics in the Amazon–Cerrado transition in Mato Grosso, a leading agricultural state in Brazil. Therefore, soil and water losses were evaluated under three soil cover conditions for corn and pasture cultivation (with vegetation cover, without vegetation cover, and without vegetation cover with soil scarified to a depth of 0.10 m) and four precipitation patterns (Advanced, Intermediate, Delayed, and Constant). The results showed that both soil cover and rainfall patterns directly influence the erosion processes. Soil loss increased up to sixfold under the Intermediate compared to the Constant rainfall, highlighting the strong influence of rainfall temporal distribution on erosion dynamics. The highest maximum runoff rates (MRR) and soil losses (SL) were recorded in tilled plots under maize cultivation, reaching 98.57 mm h−1 and 5.90 g m−2, respectively, under the intermediate pattern. In pasture areas, SL followed a similar pattern to the maize area, with maximum values of 6.96 g m−2, but the MRR was recorded under the advanced pattern and in plots with cover (89.71 mm h−1). This may be attributed to soil management conditions in pasture areas. Advanced and Intermediate patterns resulted in greater soil losses (3.78 and 2.04 g m2, respectively), highlighting the impact of peak intensity timing on soil erosion. Greater soil losses were observed at the pasture experimental site than at the maize experimental site. Because the experiments were conducted at different locations with contrasting soil and management conditions, these differences should not be interpreted as being caused exclusively by crop type. The current study reinforces the need for erosion control and management strategies that account for natural variations in rainfall and soil cover to mitigate the negative impacts of land degradation on agricultural production and environmental sustainability.