Evaluation of three soil erosion models for clay soils

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and two modified USLE models were assessed for their ability to predict soil erosion on contour bay catchments on the Darling Downs, Queensland. The models were applied using USLE handbook values as well as optimized values determined by fitting the models to the experimental data. All three models explained greater than 80% of the variance in measured soil loss with no single model being consistently superior to the others. Cover reduced erosion more than that predicted by the USLE.