Soil Erosion by Wind Storms in a Pampean Semi-Arid Region of Argentina: An Environmental Magnetism Approach

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The present article addresses the very interesting topic of determining the magnetic properties of eroded soil and comparing them with collections of aeolian soil particles after erosion processes, studying the temporal distribution of aeolian soil particles collected during nine windstorms in 1995, and evaluating the relationships between magnetic parameters and erosion indicators to identify potential magnetic proxies for soil erosion.

Comments:

Line 142: Zamyslete se prosím nad strukturou Table. 1. Možná by bylo vhodné ji rozdělit na dvě tabulky. 

Please think about the structure of the table. 1. It might be useful to split it into two tables.

Line 238: Before Figure 2. the link to the image in the article is missing.

Links to images are missing for other images. Please edit the links in the article so that they correspond to reality.

Perhaps the erroneous references are also related to references to the literature. Please check references to literary sources.

Overall, the article is well done.  It will be essential to edit the references to figures and tables. I also recommend checking the references in the literature. Without these modifications the article is sometimes harder to understand.

 

Author Response

Comments 1: Line 142: Please think about the structure of the table. 1. It might be useful to split it into two tables.

Response 1: Suggestion accepted. Thank you for your recommendation. As suggested, the table was split into Table 1 and Table 2.

 

Comments 2, 3, and 4: 

Line 238: Before Figure 2. The link to the image in the article is missing.

Links to images are missing for other images. Please edit the links in the article so that they correspond to reality.

Perhaps the erroneous references are also related to references to the literature. Please check references to literary sources.

It will be essential to edit the references to figures and tables. I also recommend checking the references in the literature. Without these modifications the article is sometimes harder to understand.

Responses 2, 3, and 4: Suggestions accepted. We have revised and modified all link errors related to images and graphs within the text. We solved 34 errors in figures and table references, and each corrected reference was highlighted in the manuscript. References to literature sources were also reviewed, but no changes were necessary.

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

1.L99, L124, L126, L135, L219, L227, L232, L243 and etc：Reference Errors 2.The article mentions that the samples used are from wind erosion events in 1995. When were the magnetic susceptibility tests conducted? Please explain whether magnetic susceptibility could change over a period of 30 years. 3.Please add some of the latest research findings.

Author Response

Comment 1: L99, L124, L126, L135, L219, L227, L232, L243 and etc：Reference Errors 

Response 1: We agree. We have revised and modified all links errors related to images and graphs within the text. A total of 34 errors in figures and tables references were solved, and each corrected reference has been highlighted in the manuscript. 

 

Comment 2: The article mentions that the samples used are from wind erosion events in 1995. When were the magnetic susceptibility tests conducted? Please explain whether magnetic susceptibility could change over a period of 30 years.

Response 2: Suggestion accepted. We agree with the reviewer. We added a sentence (page 4, L129) on the sample preparation and storage after collection. Magnetic susceptibility measurements were performed in 2021, 26 years after the initial collection; however, the samples were stored following Walden’s recommendations [39] to avoid changes in soil magnetic properties. Given that the samples were air-dried and stored in plastic containers under stable conditions, it is reasonable that the soil magnetic susceptibility has remained largely unchanged since their collection in 1995.

 

Comment 3: Please add some of the latest research findings.

Response 3: Suggestion accepted. We appreciate your comment. The present version includes three recent findings since 2024. They are references [27,28,29].

27. Soukaina Ed-Dakiri, Issam Etebaai, Said El Moussaoui, Abdelhamid Tawfik, Mustapha Lamgharbaj, Hajar El Talibi, Hinde Cherkaoui Dekkaki, Morad Taher, Assessing soil erosion risk through geospatial analysis and magnetic susceptibility: A study in the Oued Ghiss dam watershed, Central Rif, Morocco, Scientific African, Volume 26, 2024, e02401, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sciaf.2024.e02401.
28. Fattakhova L.A., Kuzina D.M., Antonenko V.V. Identification of erosion processes in the soils of the coastal territory of lake Kandrykul (Republic of Bashkortostan). Bulletin of the Tomsk Polytechnic University. Geo Assets Engineering, 2025, vol. 336, no. 2, pp. 17–25. DOI: 10.18799/24131830/2025/2/4596.
29. Meryem Moustakim, Moncef Benmansour, Rabab Bouarfa, Nour Eddine Amenzou, Azouz Benkdad, Brahim Damnati, Evaluation of the correlation between Caesium-137 inventory, magnetic susceptibility, and organic matter content to assess soil erosion status in two agricultural fields within El Hachef watershed of northwest Morocco, Heliyon, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2025,e41650, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2025.e41650.

Reviewer 3 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

The article provides interesting information on wind erosion research in Argentina. Although it is written clearly, I have a few comments and remarks:

• the authors should unify the use of the term: wind erosion x eolian erosion.
• "Error! Reference source not found" appears very often in the text.
• Have any other analyses been conducted and evaluated since 1995?
• For more clarity, the entire province could be highlighted in Figure 1a (shown by the thicker line around the province).
• Figure 1b could have used a topographic map as a basis, for example, to help the reader visualise the location in question.

Author Response

Comment 1: the authors should unify the use of the term: wind erosion x eolian erosion.

Response 1: Suggestion accepted. Thank you for your observation. We unified the use of the terms. In this version, we use  eolian erosion.

 

Comment 2: "Error! Reference source not found" appears very often in the text.

Response 2: Suggestion accepted. We revised and modified all link errors related to images and graphs within the text. We solved 34 errors in figures and table references, and each corrected reference has been highlighted in the manuscript. 

 

Comment 3: Have any other analyses been conducted and evaluated since 1995?

Response 3: Suggestion accepted. The analyses conducted on this particular study site (with the sample collection mentioned) were detailed in this work, i.e., Aimar et al. [9] and Aimar [37]. Other erosion studies in this province are mentioned (i.e., references [5-17, 54]); however, they were not carried out using soil magnetism techniques. To our knowledge, the present study is the first to use environmental magnetism methods on soil erosion in Argentina. This contribution is one of the first to study eolian particles collected with dust collectors (model Big Spring Number Eight BSNE; [38]) and environmental magnetism methods.

 

Comment 4: For more clarity, the entire province could be highlighted in Figure 1a (shown by the thicker line around the province).

Response 4: Suggestion accepted. We modified Figure 1a (page 3, L109) to highlight La Pampa province for more clarity. 

 

Comment 5: Figure 1b could have used a topographic map as a basis, for example, to help the reader visualise the location in question.

Response 5: Suggestion accepted. We modified Figure 1b (page 3, L109), showing a topographic map as a basis of La Pampa province for a better visualization experience of the studied sites.