The present work was carried out in the experimental area of the Agronomy Department of the Viçosa Federal University, Brazil, aiming to evaluate the effect of soil cover and kinetic energy of rainfall on soil losses. The soil management used was the contour cropping, with six experimental units (4,0 m²) with soil cover percentage of 0; 20; 40; 60; 80 and 100%. The tests were conducted with a rotative rainfall simulator and the soil in the experimental area was a Red-Yellow Podzolic, with an average slope of 9.5%. The six rainfall intensities used were 60; 80; 100 and 120 mm h-1, with periods of time of 68; 40; 24 e 14 minutes, and resulting in kinetic energy values of 1,401; 1,122; 841; e 589 J m-2, respectively. Six successive rainfall applications were made in 12 hour periods, regularly, for each rainfall intensity. It was observed a pronounced decrease in soil losses with higher soil cover percentage, and higher soil losses with lower rainfall intensities, due to the long rainfall period of application. The influence of soil cover on soil loss was more effective than rainfall intensity and that, the erosive potential of the intense rains was reduced by soil cover increase, passing the erosion process to be dominated by erosive effect of the runoff, which occurs for a larger period in the less intense rains, due to their larger duration.
water erosion; rainfall intensity; soil cover
