Using site-specific soil samples as a substitution for improved hydrological and nonpoint source predictions

Abstract

Soil databases are one of the most important inputs for watershed models, and the quality of soil properties affects how well a model performs. The objectives of this study were to (1) quantify the sensitivity of model outputs to soil properties and to (2) use site-specific soil properties as a substitution for more accurate hydrological and nonpoint source (H/NPS) predictions. Soil samples were collected from a typical mountainous watershed in China, and the impacts of soil sample parameters on H/NPS predictions were quantified using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT). The most sensitive parameters related to predicting flow, sediment, and total phosphorus (TP) mainly were the soil hydrological, the channel erosion processes, and the initial soil chemical environment, respectively. When the site-specific soil properties were used, the uncertainties (coefficient of variation) related to predicting the hydrology, sediment and TP decreased by 75∼80 %, 75∼84 %, and 46∼61 %, respectively. Based on changes in the Nash-Sutcliff coefficient, the model performance improved by 4.9 and 19.45 % for the hydrological and sediment model, accordingly. However, site-specific soil properties did not contribute to better TP predictions because of the high spatial variability of the soil P concentrations across the large watershed. Thus, although site-specific soil samples can be used to obtain more accurate H/NPS predictions, more sampling sites are required to apply this method in large watersheds.