Water erosion in Caatinga and degraded pasture areas in semiarid region

Soil erosion causes great damage to the agricultural productive process, as it causes soil, water and nutrient losses. The present study aimed to evaluate soil and water losses under simulated rainfall in areas of caatinga and degraded pasture in the Brazilian semiarid. For that, a series of 20 simulated rains were implemented in the municipality of Serra Talhada, semiarid of the State of Pernambuco, under the following treatments: (1) preserved caatinga – CP; (2) caatinga with angico – CA; (3) Intermediate caatinga – CI; (4) degraded pasture – PD. The sediment concentration of the degraded pasture was lower than that of CP, CA and CI, with a 4.2 fold higher concentration for IC than PD. The lower sediment concentration in the PD is due to soil compaction due to grazing and the loss of the soil surface layer due to the erosion process of the last years. The area of CI was the one that presented the largest loss of soil, where it was observed an increase of 245.86% in relation to CP.