Due to the damage caused by erosions in land and urban systems, this article has been developed to establish the relation between soil losses and superficial sealing formed by rain drop impact. In order to evaluate soil losses and physical and micromorphological characteristics of soil crusts developed by water drop impact, an experiment was carried out using a rainfall simulator in a factorial scheme of 5 x 6. Five soils (Red Ultisol, Red-Yellow Ultisol, Red-Yellow Oxisol, Fluvic Entisol and Arenic Entisol) and six rainfall kinetic energy (0; 525; 1,051; 2,102; 3,153 and 4,204 J m-2) with three repetitions were used. Soil losses were determined by the total runoff volume samples and the physical and micromorphological characteristics of the crust, such as pores distribution and continuity, using micromorphometrics techniques. In all evaluated soils there was a progressive increase of soil losses with the kinetic energy applied. These losses were less accentuated in sandy or loamy texture soils with microgranular structure. Crust characteristics presented temporal variation, which were dependent of rainfall kinetic energy and runoff shear stress that induce structural and erosional crusts formation.
superficial sealing; runoff; rainfall kinetic energy
