These text and Excel files provide supplementary information for the paper entitled "Natural versus anthropogenic erosion in Central Brazil, a confrontation of time and space scales" and submitted to Earth's Future for consideration of publication. The objective of this dataset is to present all the analytical results that support all the conclusions included in this paper.
Soil erosion is a global threat to the well-being of billions of people. With the looming global crisis, this systemic problem is likely to get worser, especially in the intertropical zone where many countries are also vulnerable to environmental and socio-economic instabilities. There is still much to learn about the links between natural and human-induced erosion processes, and it remains complex to differentiate them. This study proposes an original combination of techniques, each of them being well recognized in their scientific community but rarely combined to the best of our knowledge. We focused our approach on the region of Brasília, the
Cerrado savanna, which is sensitive because of the need of ecosystem conservation and the conflict between preservation of natural spaces and development of human activities. Our study shows how a landscape in a state of equilibrium, where erosion and soil formation rates are in balance, is perturbated by agricultural activities with erosion rates at least 150 times faster, jeopardizing the sustainability of the soil resource.
Table of content S1 – Excel file containing 12 spreadsheets with tables
S1.1 – Geomorphic characteristics of the watersheds and localization of the samples
S1.2a - Density profiles (cylinders method)
S1.2b - Pedological analyses (INRAE ARRAS Laboratory)
S1.3 – Meteoric Be-10 measured in soil profiles and inventories
S1.4 - Results of Accelerator Mass Spectrometry for in situ Be-10 (ASTER, LN2C, Aix-en-Provence, France)
S1.5 – Meteoric Be-10 and authigenic Be-9 measured in river-borne sediments
S1.6 - In situ production parameters and [Be-10] derived denudation rates and integration times
S1.7 - Cosmogenic Ne-21 analytical results and Exposure age (CRONUS)
S1.8 - 210Pbxs and 137Cs activities and inventories
S1.9 - Georeferenced information used for the RUSLE models for the study area.
S1.10 - Summary of erodibility values (t.ha.MJ-1 mm-1) applied in the studied area
S1.11 - CP factors for the study area.
S1.12a Synthesis of the soil erosion rates determined by RUSLE Models for the natural state (Scenario without human impacts).
S1.12b Synthesis of erosion rates derived by the RUSLE Models for the “Natural State” by watersheds (Scenario without human impacts).
S1.12c. Synthesis of the erosion rates derived by RUSLE Models around and inside the National Park of Brasília for 1975, 1985 and 2018 (after Rosa et al., 2022).
S1.12d - Synthesis of the erosion rates determined by RUSLE Models by watersheds for 1975, 1985 and 2018 (after Rosa et al., 2022).
S1.12e - Synthesis of the erosion rates determined by the RUSLE Models by land use and cover types for 1975, 1985 and 2018 (after Rosa et al., 2022).
S2 – Text file with two figures dealing with natural rates of landscape evolution using cosmogenic nuclides (in situ and meteoric 10Be, in situ produced 21Ne)
S3 – Text file with four figures dealing with anthropogenic rates of erosion from short-lived radioactive nuclides and RUSLE models.
S4 – Text file listing the references cited in the supplemental information
