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. , <br />15 <br />R is the rainfall erosivity factor <br />K is the soil erodibility factor <br />L is the slope length factor <br />S is the slope gradient factor <br />C is the ground cover factor <br />P is the conservation practice factor. <br />Each of the factors in the equation is assigned a numerical value and <br />the product of those values is the estimation of the soil loss, A. The <br />predicted soil loss is only for a particular slope segment from sheet and <br />rill erosion. <br />The equation does not account for deposition and does not predict <br />sediment yield to a stream. Neither does it consider stream channel <br />erosion, gully erosion, nor wind erosion (Soil Science Society of America, <br />1979}, The rainfall erosivity factor, R, is the product of the kinetic <br />energy of the rainstorm times the greatest average intensity experienced <br />in any 30-minute period during the storm (Hudson, 1973, p. 64}, When R <br />I~ is determined from•tfie sum of rainstorms throughout an average year, A <br />will be the average annual soil loss. Where significant soil erosion <br />results from snowmelt the R factor should be adjusted accordingly. The <br />soil erodibility factor K is determined from five parameters; silt plus <br />very fine sand, percent sand greater than 0.10 millimeters, organic <br />matter content, soil structure, and permeability (U.S. Soil Conservation <br />Service, 1977}. The slope length factor, L, and the slope gradient <br />factor, S, relate to the ratio of soil loss compared to a standard nine <br />?1.6 <br />percent slope, ~ feet long, The ground cover factor, C, is the ratio <br />of soil loss with vegetation or mulch compared to the soil loss of bare <br />