ABSTRACT

Soil erosion and its associated problems have become a matter of concern in our society today. Catchment hydrology is an important engineering factor when considering soil conservation, management and its effects on erosion cannot be over emphasized. Therefore, this study on the effects of catchment hydrology on soil erosion at Ndoru was carried out. Field experiments were conducted on the five experimental sites. Soil samples were taken at different depths from 0-30cm to determine the soil textural class,, soil moisture content, bulk density, saturated hydraulic conductivity (k sat), porosity, using standard procedures. The gully features were also measured. The results of the textural class show that the predominant soil texture in the five experimental sites were sand having low binding forces. Hence, the soil texture will not offer much resistance to the detachment and transportation by raindrops and runoffs. It was observed that Eziuja has the highest 1eve1of erosion, having the depth of gully head as 7.8m, depth of gully middle as 9.8m, depth of gully tail as 4.8m, and length of gully as 18m while Agbommiri has the least level of erosion with depth of gully head as 2.2m, depth of gully middle as 3Am, depth of gully tail as 1.2m and length of gully as 7m. Eziuja catchment hydrology shows that the soil is prone to erosion as the soil textural class is predominantly sand and having low clay content and high saturated hydraulic conductivity. Designing and installing erosion control structure to direct the runoff at a non-erosive velocity to a safe discharge outlet is paramount.