Soil erosion and sediment fluxes analysis: a watershed study of the Ni Reservoir, Spotsylvania County, VA, USA

Abstract

Anthropogenic forces that alter the physical landscape are known to cause significant soil erosion, which has negative impact on surface water bodies, such as rivers, lakes/reservoirs, and coastal zones, and thus sediment control has become one of the central aspects of catchment management planning. The revised universal soil loss equation empirical model, erosion pins, and isotopic sediment core analyses were used to evaluate watershed erosion, stream bank erosion, and reservoir sediment accumulation rates for Ni Reservoir, in central Virginia. Land-use and land cover seems to be dominant control in watershed soil erosion, with barren land and human-disturbed areas contributing the most sediment, and forest and herbaceous areas contributing the least. Results show a 7 % increase in human development from 2001 (14 %) to 2009 (21.6 %), corresponding to an increase in soil loss of 0.82 Mg ha(-1) year(-1) in the same time period. (210)Pb-based sediment accumulation rates at three locations in Ni Reservoir were 1.020, 0.364, and 0.543 g cm(-2) year(-1) respectively, indicating that sediment accumulation and distribution in the reservoir is influenced by reservoir configuration and significant contributions from bedload. All three locations indicate an increase in modern sediment accumulation rates. Erosion pin results show variability in stream bank erosion with values ranging from 4.7 to 11.3 cm year(-1). These results indicate that urban growth and the decline in vegetative cover has increased sediment fluxes from the watershed and poses a significant threat to the long-term sustainability of the Ni Reservoir as urbanization continues to increase.

Global analysis of support practices in USLE-based soil erosion modeling

“…In large watershed scales, land-use maps do not show differences resulting from SPs, such as terracing and contouring (Napoli et al, 2016). Therefore, using slope gradients as inputs, this method is commonly used to determine P-factor values (Clark et al, 2015; Fu et al, 2005, 2011; Khosrokhani and Pradhan, 2014; Li et al, 2017b; Mutua and Klik, 2004; Napoli et al, 2016; Pope and Odhiambo, 2014; Ricker et al, 2008; Schnitzer et al, 2013; Wang et al, 2014; Wu et al, 2011, 2016).…”

Creep and Floodplain Defluxion Study in the East of the Russian Plain

“…To solve an important research question in the study of the relief formation dynamics is to study the processes of creep and defluxion (Kurbanova et al, 2014, Pope et al, 2014. In this case the soil movement on slopes and on upper stratum of floodplain alluvium was analyzed in the longitudinal and transverse directions (at the soil surface along the surface slope), according to the river flow rate and the slope of the river, and according to the change of this displacement in relation to depth (Wilkinson et al, 2007;Dedkov et al, 2005).…”

Riparian Land-Use, Stream Morphology and Streambank Erosion within Grazed Pastures in Southern Iowa, USA: A Catchment-Wide Perspective

“…Land-use/cover design and management at the watershed scale are major factors that control the amount of soil loss to water bodies [36][37][38][39]. On the other hand, the impacts of current riparian land-use on bank erosion at the field (reach) scale are still poorly understood due to varying temporal and spatial scale effects on stream hydro-morphology and the effects of connectivity of the stream channel process and riparian ecosystem [16,40,41].…”