Erosion of our lands is a serious problem, which often is difficult to
visually defect. Established procedures for measuring soil loss most
often involve establishment of a set of erosion plots and then measure
ment of runoff and sediment from one location, at the end of the plot.
With greater emphasis on understanding of the erosion processes at di
screte points on the landscape, better research equipment is needed wh
ich can precisely measure the amount (both depths and mass) of soil lo
st or sediment deposited. A large (1 x 3 m) laser scanner was develope
d at the USDA-Agricultural Research Service, National Soil Erosion Res
earch Laboratory to provide better measurement of detachment and depos
ition at points along an erosion plot or a laboratory flume. This appa
ratus has been used in a variety of applications, including field and
laboratory measurement of erosion and deposition depths and mass, dete
rmination of rill channel geometry, and bulk density measurements. Tes
ting of the system indicates that the elevation readings obtained are
very precise, having an average standard deviation of less than 0.30 m
m at the optimal scan speed.