Impact of rainfall movement on soil crust development

The impact of rainfall event movement on soil crust development was investigated via laboratory experiments and physics-based hydrological-response simulation.Runoff and soil water content data were analyzed in order to study different crustal development periods under a variety of precipitation conditions.The results showed that the formation of crust significantly changed soil saturated hydraulic conductivity（K;） and runoff,while a steady state,which could be broken by an extended period of raindrop impact,was found to exist for both the crust and,subsequently,runoff characteristics.The decrease in K;was as high as 86%for downstream-moving events,and 72%for upstream-moving events,illustrating that the direction of rainfall movement has a more significant impact on crust formation than rainfall intensity and duration.As downstream-moving rainfall events may have a greater effect than those moving upstream,the development of a depositional crust before raindrop impact may play an important role in determining the final K;value.