The soil surface characteristics of vegetation stripes in Northern Mexico and their influences on the system hydrodynamics

Vegetation stripes were described in arid areas of Africa, Australia and Mexico. They depend on the local concentration of rain water after runoff. In Mexico, we described the soil surface characteristics of vegetation stripes and performed rainfall simulations to analyze its hydrodynamic behaviour. Simulations were performed on plots characterized by the four soil surface features represented in the stripes. Four types of surface crusts were found in the stripes, erosion, sedimentation, and two types of structural crusts. The less vegetated plots had relatively impervious crusts with low preponding rains and high constant runoff rates. On the contrary, the highly vegetated plot had a thin crust and abundant litter which allowed a high infiltration rate. Runoff rates were positively related to rainfall intensity. Those relationships between surface characteristics and runoff determine the fate of rain water and may allow the prediction of the amount of runoff for a specific rain on a given plot.