Effect of Nanoclay on Soil Erosion Control

Wind erosion is a widespread phenomenon in arid region. The purpose of this study was assessed the capacity of nanoclay to control soil erosion in wind tunnel experiment. The nanoclay isolated from soils was dominant in montmorillonite. A sandy soil from the Khara desert, nearly 100 km East of Isfahan (Central Iran) was used. The soils of this area are structurally unstable and sandy texture makes these soils highly erodible for most seasons. After packing the soil samples in the trays and before setting them in the wind tunnel, the samples were treated with distilled water as control and nanoclay at a rate of 2 g L−1 were uniformly spread on the soil surface. The volume of water and nanoclay solutions was 0.5 L. The treatments were performed in the condition with wind velocity of 8.60, 15.34. Every experiment lasted 5.0 min. The results reveal that the soil erosion amount decreased with the usage of nanoclay. The effect of nanoclay with 2 g L–1 on controlling wind erosion was significantly better than distilled water as control treatment. Consequently Nanoclay able to fixate the sand and it has ability to stabilize the soil structure, increase aggregation and of course decrease soil erosion.