How does slope influence runoff
Runoff is the precipitation excess or the water leaving a drainage area regarded as rainfall minus loss by evaporation or infiltration.Runoff volume is the total volume of runoff water occuring over a period of time where Q(t) is the discharge at time t and the expression is :- Total runoff is the sum of the overland flow,ground water flow and through flow.The reason why water flow down hill over a sloping land surface is because of the following of the Bernoulli's equation .However,other opinion says the reason is decrease in potential energy rather than Bernoulli's equation .Steep slope will provoke speedy movement of water towards the outlet while gentle slope will result in slow movement allowing evapotranspiration.If the soil is porous then there will be infiltration and downflow in the form of throughflow or it may enter the ground water flow.Surface runoff or infiltration excess overland flow can only occur on the catchment slope if :- a)Rainfall rate is gre...
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