The assessment of soil erosion risk, sediment yield and their controlling factors on a large scale: Example of Morocco

Gourfi, Abdelali; Daoudi, Lahcen; Shi, Zhou

doi:10.1016/j.jafrearsci.2018.06.028

Cited by 47 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…At the edge of plots, implementation or augmentation of features that can attenuate or slow overland flow to retain soil within the plots are important but poor practice upslope can still generate significant overland flow that overwhelms the integrity of downslope plot terraces, even if the latter uses CA practices that promote infiltration and good soil health. Herein slope length is a key factor (Gourfi, Daoudi, & Shi, 2018). This is exemplified in zone B1 and B2 where slope length was high (< 800 m) and the relatively recent conversion of the land with under-developed boundaries meant that attenuation features could not cope with the amounts of overland flow generated.…”

Section: Local Environmental Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating land‐water‐people connectivity concepts across disciplines for co‐design of soil erosion solutions

et al. 2020

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Soil resources in East Africa are being rapidly depleted by erosion, threatening food, water and livelihood security in the region. Here we demonstrate how the integration of evidence from natural and social sciences has supported a community-led change in land management in an agro-pastoral community in northern Tanzania. Geospatial analysis of erosion risk and extent (based on a drone survey across a 3.6 km 2 sub-catchment) revealed that recently converted land had ca 12-times greater rill density than established slow-forming terraced plots (987 ± 840 m 2 ha −1 vs. 79 ± 110 m 2 ha −1 ). Slope length and connectivity between plots were key factors in the development of rill networks rather than slope per se wherein slope length was augmented by weak boundaries between newly formed plots. Erosion evidence, supported by communication of 'process' and 'structural' hydrological connectivity, was integrated with local environmental knowledge within participatory community workshops. Demonstration of the critical time window of hillslope-scale rill erosion risk during early phases of slow-forming terrace development catalysed a community-led tree planting and grass seed sowing programme to mitigate soil erosion by water. This was grounded in an implicit farmer understanding of the need for effective governance mechanisms at both community and District levels, to enable community-led actions to be implemented effectively. The study demonstrates the wide-reaching impact of integrated and interdisciplinary 'upslope-downslope' thinking to tackle global soil erosion challenges.

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Section: Local Environmental Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating land‐water‐people connectivity concepts across disciplines for co‐design of soil erosion solutions

et al. 2020

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“…The reported median SSY values are 0.9, 3.0, and 2.5 t ha −1 yr −1 for Europe, Africa, and worldwide, respectively (Development for International Development, ; Haregeweyn et al, ). Among the reported values, median SSYs for medium‐sized catchments in Europe, Africa, and South America were ~1, ~2, and 7 t ha −1 yr −1 , respectively (Restrepo et al, ; Vanmaercke et al, , ; Latrubesse & Restrepo, ; Gourfi et al, ). By comparison, the high SSY from the Xujiaya catchment can be attributed mainly to intense agricultural disturbance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dating reservoir deposits to assess the recently changing sediment yields from a medium‐sized agricultural catchment

Long

Lu²,

Pei³

et al. 2019

Land Degrad Dev

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Medium‐sized catchments exhibit different patterns of sediment yield than small catchments and large river basins (taking scale dependency into account) and play in soil loss from upstream areas with downstream sediment transportation over larger spatial scales than small catchments. Few studies have used reservoir depositional records to assess historical sediment yields at the scale of a medium‐sized catchment. By analyzing six cores obtained from reservoir deposits, this investigation reconstructed the recent sediment yield from a medium‐sized agricultural catchment (the Xujiaya catchment in Northern China) and examined the changing pattern of sediment yield over the past 57 years. The cores were dated using the 137Cs and 210Pbex methods. The historical specific sediment yields (SSYs) were estimated based on the original reservoir capacity curve and the depositional chronology modeled using a composite chronological model based on the constant rate of supply (CRS) approach (i.e., the C‐CRS model). The mean SSYs estimated from the six cores over each of seven short stages (i.e., 1959–1963, 1964–1972, 1973–1980, 1981–1989, 1990–1997, 1998–2007, and 2008–2016) defined over the 57‐year study period ranged between 4.6 ± 1.8 and 16.2 ± 6.3 t ha−1 yr−1, with a mean value of 8.1 ± 3.2 ha−1 yr−1 for all seven stages, and this mean value can be used to broadly represent the sediment yield from the catchment since dam construction. These SSY values are relatively high, reflecting intense agricultural disturbance and the underlying lithology. The values were highest for the 1959–1963 stage and lowest in the following stage of 1964–1972 and then generally increased over the successive stages of 1973–1980, 1981–1989, and 1990–1997 before decreasing slightly during the last two stages after 1997. This change was driven mainly by human activity over the past 57 years. The results indicate that the environmental factors (e.g., human activity and lithology) influencing sediment yield in a medium‐sized catchment are more complicated than those affecting a small catchment and reveal the characteristic pattern of sediment yield in medium‐sized catchments.

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“…Alternatively, statistical approaches can be used [24,34,[44][45][46]. Other approaches include empirical models (mainly Universal Soil Loss Equation-USLE, or Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation-RUSLE) [14,18,20,22,23,47], or physically-based models. either spatially distributed or spatially lumped (e.g., Soil Water Assessment Tool-SWAT [12,[48][49][50] and Water Availability in Semi-Arid environments-SEDiments-WASA-SED [51]).…”

Section: Mapping Approaches Under Constraints Of Data Unavailabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite good understanding of functioning of bio-physical systems in semi-arid areas [37,38,116,117], local eco-hydrological and eco-geomorphological conditions can stimulate specific catchment sediment responses [118,119]. Regional studies showed that rainfall-discharge-sediment response curves and some of the controlling factors varied among catchments and/or seasons [14,35,44,120]. Events of similar magnitude can deliver differing amounts of sediment if intra-or inter-event catchment connectivity changed, or stored sediment was released within an event [121].…”

Section: Common Challenges For Research and Management Of Leverage Armentioning

confidence: 99%

Mesoscale Mapping of Sediment Source Hotspots for Dam Sediment Management in Data-Sparse Semi-Arid Catchments

Smetanová

Müller

Zargar

et al. 2020

Water

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Land degradation and water availability in semi-arid regions are interdependent challenges for management that are influenced by climatic and anthropogenic changes. Erosion and high sediment loads in rivers cause reservoir siltation and decrease storage capacity, which pose risk on water security for citizens, agriculture, and industry. In regions where resources for management are limited, identifying spatial-temporal variability of sediment sources is crucial to decrease siltation. Despite widespread availability of rigorous methods, approaches simplifying spatial and temporal variability of erosion are often inappropriately applied to very data sparse semi-arid regions. In this work, we review existing approaches for mapping erosional hotspots, and provide an example of spatial-temporal mapping approach in two case study regions. The barriers limiting data availability and their effects on erosion mapping methods, their validation, and resulting prioritization of leverage management areas are discussed.

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The assessment of soil erosion risk, sediment yield and their controlling factors on a large scale: Example of Morocco

Cited by 47 publications

References 44 publications

Integrating land‐water‐people connectivity concepts across disciplines for co‐design of soil erosion solutions

Integrating land‐water‐people connectivity concepts across disciplines for co‐design of soil erosion solutions

Dating reservoir deposits to assess the recently changing sediment yields from a medium‐sized agricultural catchment

Mesoscale Mapping of Sediment Source Hotspots for Dam Sediment Management in Data-Sparse Semi-Arid Catchments

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