Simulation of Sediment Yield Over Un-gauged Stations Using MUSLE and Fuzzy Model

Abstract

Land and water are two most vital natural resources of the world and hence these resources must be conserved carefully to protect environment to maintain ecological balance. Estimation of runoff and sediment yield is one of the prerequisites for conservation and management of water resources and also for many hydrological applications. The present study has been taken up to predict runoff and sediment yield for a reservoir basin viz. Megadrigedda Reservoir situated in Visakhapatnam District, Andhra Pradesh, India which is having a drainage area of 363 Sq.km. Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) has been used to estimate the sediment yield. The runoff factors of MUSLE were computed by the measured values of runoff and peak rate of runoff at outlet of the reservoir. Topographic factor (LS) and crop management factor(C) were determined using geographic information system (GIS) and field-based survey of land use/land cover. The conservation practice factor (P) is obtained from the literature. Sediment yield at the outlet of the study reservoir has been simulated for fifteen storm events spread over the period of 2010-2013 and is validated with that of measured values. The resulted coefficient of determination value has been obtained as 0.84 for the study area which indicates that MUSLE model is working satisfactory for the selected basin. Fuzzy logic based model has also been developed to estimate sediment yield. The resulted correlation obtained between Fuzzy logic model and MUSLE model is 0.97 and with that of measured value it is 0.937.

Quantification of Erosion in Selected Catchment Areas of the Ruzizi River (DRC) Using the (R)USLE Model

“…Since 1978, USLE has been used by several researchers to estimate soil erosion and sediment yield [13] "because of its simplicity" as stated by Sotiropoulou et al [14], although it considers also the "spatial heterogeneity of soil erosion" [15]. It is an equation that considers the main parameters influencing erosion, such as rainfall (R factor), soil (K factor), topography (LS factor), land cover (C factor), and land management (P factor), and was developed by Wischmeier and Smith [1].…”

“…It is an equation that considers the main parameters influencing erosion, such as rainfall (R factor), soil (K factor), topography (LS factor), land cover (C factor), and land management (P factor), and was developed by Wischmeier and Smith [1]. Due to the complexity of the data incorporated in the model, different approaches are used for factor calculations: e.g., the R factor can be based on mean annual precipitation [16][17][18][19], mean monthly precipitation [15,20], or single daily events [13], though the use of mean annual precipitation probably leads to under-estimations of soil loss when there are distinct differences between rainy and dry season; the K factor uses predefined values according to soil types and/or colors [17,21] or on detailed grain size and carbon amount data [16,20]; or the C factor can be based on calculations of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) [16,22] or again based on predefined values matched with land cover classes [17,21,[23][24][25] (see Tables A1-A3 for selected calculations and [3] for a (R)USLE review). The differences between USLE, RUSLE, and MUSLE depend on the calculation of the single factors, which have to be adapted to different climate, topography, and also research objectives [3].…”

Estimation of Soil Erosion and Net Sediment Trapped of Upper-Helmand Catchment in Kajaki Reservoir Using USLE Model and Remote Sensing & GIS Technique

“…It not only reduces the storage capacity of a reservoir but also affects the resources and productivity of catchment. Erosion implicates the process of the detachment, transport and deposition of soil particles and aggregates (Kumar et al, 2015). The total amount of detachment (erosion) of soil and then transportation from its source to downstream control point of the catchment is defined as the sediment yield (Gottschalk, 1964).…”

Development Land Erosion Model Using Model Builder GIS (Case Study: Citepus Watershed)

“…Peak discharge is calculated using rasional equation which assume that rainfall has uniform intensity on entire watershed. For the model accuracy, MUSLE increases sediment yield prediction accuracy and as well as it eliminates the need for delivery ratios [6]. The MUSLE equation has been used previously by many researchers (Tripathi et al 2001) and, in some cases, the equation was subjected to different modifications.…”

“…Erosion involves the detachment, transport and deposition of soil particles and aggregates. Among available soil erosion and sediment yield models, the universal soil loss equation (USLE), the revised version, Revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE), and its modified version (MUSLE) are widely used in hydrology and environmental engineering for computing the potential soil erosion and sediment yield [6]. Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) is an empirical model, which gives average soil loss produced by rainfall events (Williams, 1975).…”