Аннотация:In a study conducted during the summers of August 1993 and August-September 1994, four independent techniques were used to evaluate soil redistribution in an arable field in the Stavropol Upland, Russia, with a semi-permanent ephemeral gully network and a downslope buffer zone of grassed dry valley bank with depositional fans. The relative importance of each technique and its contribution to a sediment budget for the entire period of cultivation in the study area were evaluated. The 4 approaches used were: (1) soil survey; (2) ephemeral gully volume measurements; (3) tracing soil redistribution using caesium-137 (137Cs) measurements; and (4) a Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)-based model modified for Russian conditions. All the methods used suggest severe soil losses from the arable part of the study field. Severe erosion occurred at the rate of 5 kg m2/year. The contribution of sheet erosion by water (calculated with the USLE) was 1 kg m2/year, whereas mechanical translocation contributed 4 kg m2/year. Sediment deposition within the buffer zone was low, representing only 6% of the total eroded material. Best estimates of soil redistribution rates were obtained by integrating the soil survey and the 137Cs conversion model (combined with gully volume measurement) approaches.