A simple approach to soil loss prediction: a revised Morgan–Morgan–Finney model

A revised version of the Morgan–Morgan–Finney model for prediction of annual soil loss by water is presented. Changes have been made to the way soil particle detachment by raindrop impact is simulated, which now takes account of plant canopy height and leaf drainage, and a component has been added for soil particle detachment by flow. When tested against the same data set used to validate the original version at the erosion plot scale, predictions made with the revised model gave slopes of a reduced major-axis regression line closer to 1.0 when compared with measured values. The coefficient of efficiency, for sites with measured runoff and soil loss, increased from 0.54 to 0.65. When applied to a new data set for erosion plots in Denmark, Spain, Greece and Nepal, very high coefficients of efficiency of 0.94 for runoff and 0.84 for soil loss were obtained. The revised version was applied to two small catchments by dividing them into land elements and routing annual runoff and sediment production over the land surface from one element to another. The results indicate that, when used in this way, the model provides useful information on the source areas of sediment, sediment delivery to streams and annual sediment yield.     

九龙江北溪悬移质泥沙初步分析

九龙江是福建省第二大河流,北溪是龙岩、漳州和厦门三市的主要水源地,该河流的水土流失及水源含养直接关系到三市居民生活用水安全。本文对北溪的悬移泥沙的年际变化和年内分配以及变化原因进行初步分析,为北溪的水土保持及水资源综合治理提供参考数据。     

Soil distribution in valleys according to stream order

While much research has been done on predicting the occurrence of waterlogged soils in small catchments, we need to improve our knowledge of the extension of these soils in large catchments. The aim of this study is to analyse the extent of soils with redoximorphic features in the valley bottomland domain as a function of the stream order.This study concerns a 10,000 km² catchment (River Vilaine, Armorican massif, north-western France) where valley bottomland soils commonly associated with hydromorphic characteristics cover up to 20% of the basin area. To describe the catchment organisation, we used the stream order classification of Strahler to test the behaviour of the topographic index in a large range of landscape morphological settings. Two methods were used to define the extent of the hydromorphic zone (HZ) in each valley bottomland according to stream order: (i) A field study based on mapping the HZ according to the occurrence of redoximorphic features along 60 transects; (ii) a modelling approach linking a DEM-derived topographic index to the digitized stream network of the River Vilaine.In view of the topographic factors, progressive valley widening may represent an enhancing factor of HZ extent. Thus, simple topographic index modelling predicts an increase in waterlogging in high-order channel settings (orders 6–7). By contrast, field mapping suggests that HZ extent remains stable with increasing order and decreases significantly for high-order settings (orders 6–7). Therefore, topographic index modelling appears effective in upper catchment settings (1st, 2nd and 3rd order). On the contrary, modelling efficiency is limited in high-order settings where the indices prove to be inappropriate: in such contexts, interactions between adjacent hillslope and HZ are of secondary importance. Along the longitudinal profile of the catchment, soil material near the streams shifts from having a colluvial origin in low-order to an alluvial origin in high-order settings. In high-order settings, the fine-scale valley bottomland topography and the spatial organisation of deposits control waterlogging duration and possibly play a major role in HZ extent. Finally, the integration of stream order data should considerably improve the efficiency of modelling the spatial distribution of soils over large catchments.     

Modeling scour and deposition in ephemeral channels after wildfire

The area burned by wildfire in the states of Arizona and New Mexico in the southwestern US has been increasing in recent years. In many cases, high severity burns have caused dramatic increases in runoff and sediment yield from burned watersheds. This paper describes the potential and limitations of the HEC6T sediment transport model to describe changes in channel scour and deposition following the Cerro Grande fire near Los Alamos, New Mexico. Following the fire, Pueblo Canyon, near Los Alamos, was subject to a peak flow two orders of magnitudes higher than any discharge in the 7-year period of record, and twice the initial post-fire estimate of the 100-year event. HEC6T requires that the limits of scour and deposition on a cross-section be specified prior to application. This was achieved by using geomorphologic principles, predicted post-burn hydrology and long-term estimates of channel change derived from air photos, to estimate post-fire channel widths. Because significant quantities of silt and clay were present in the runoff, erosion shear stress and erosion rate parameters for cohesive sediments had to be obtained experimentally. After a sensitivity analysis, an optimization routine was used to estimate the optimal model parameter values for sensitive parameters. HEC6T was able to accurately model the change in cumulative sediment volume change derived from Airborne Laser Swath Mapping (ALSM, often called Lidar) taken before and after the large post-fire event. One discrepancy between the HEC6T model prediction and the ALSM-estimated change was that the ALSM-estimated change showed the greatest amount of deposition in a portion of the canyon with increasing slope, which the HEC6T model did not predict. Any sediment transport model will predict increased sediment transport capacity with increasing energy slope, so that it was considered to be beyond the capability of any sediment transport model to predict this deposition. Therefore, HEC6T simulated the overall changes in scour and deposition within reasonable expectation of the capabilities of physically-based sediment transport modeling indicating that it is capable of modeling sediment transport in ephemeral channels following wildfire.     

Effects of rainfall intensity and slope gradient on the dynamics of interrill erosion during soil surface sealing

Soil erosion during rainfall is strongly affected by runoff and slope steepness. Runoff production is drastically increased when a seal is formed at the soil surface during rainfall. Therefore, a complex interaction exists between soil erosion and surface sealing. In this study, the dynamics of interrill erosion during seal formation is studied under different simulated rainfall and slope conditions. A sandy soil was exposed to 70 mm of rainfall at two intensities, 24 mm h^− 1 and 60 mm h^− 1, and five slope gradients, from 5% to 25%. Infiltration, runoff and soil loss rates were monitored during rainfall. Final infiltration rates increased with slope gradient at both rainfall intensities, this effect being stronger for the higher intensity. Cumulative runoff at the end of the rainfall event was lower as slopes were steeper, while an opposite trend was obtained for soil loss. For the 5% and the 9% slopes, the sediment concentration in runoff reached quickly a stable value during the whole rainfall event, while it reached a peak value before declining for the higher slopes. The peak value and its timing were rainfall intensity dependent. Soil erodibility during seal formation was evaluated using two empirical multiplication-of-factors type models. It seems that slope and rainfall erosivity are accounted for only partly in these models. For mild slope gradients below 9%, the value of K_i estimated by means of the two expressions becomes practically constant shortly after runoff apparition. Consequently, the estimates resulting from this type of expressions remain valuable from the practical point of view.     

Prolegomena to sediment and flow connectivity in the landscape: A GIS and field numerical assessment

This paper presents two new definitions of sediment and water flux connectivity (from source through slopes to channels/sinks) with examples of applications to sediment fluxes. The two indices of connectivity are operatively defined, one (IC) that can be calculated in a GIS environment and represents a connectivity assessment based on landscape's information, and another that can be evaluated in the field (FIC) through direct assessment. While IC represent a potential connectivity characteristic of the local landscape, since nothing is used to represent the characteristics of causative events, FIC depend on the intensities of the events that have occurred locally and that have left visible signs in the fields, slopes, etc.IC and FIC are based on recognized major components of hydrological connectivity, such as land use and topographic characteristics. The definitions are based on the fact that the material present at a certain location A reaches another location B with a probability that depends on two components: the amount of material present in A and the route from A to B. The distance to B is weighted by the local gradient and the type of land use that the flow encounters on its route to B, while the amount of material present in A depends on the catchment surface, slope gradient and type of land use of said catchment.Although IC and FIC are independent from each other, and are calculated using different equations and different inputs, they complement each other. In fact, their combined use improves IC's accuracy. Hence, connectivity classes can afterward be rated using IC alone.This procedure has been applied in a medium-size watershed in Tuscany (Italy) with the aim of evaluating connectivity, identifying connected sediment sources and verifying the effects of mitigation measures.The proposed indices can be used for monitoring changes in connectivity in areas with high geomorphological or human induced evolution rates.     

基于体积法对黄土细沟侵蚀沿程分布模拟的研究

通过土槽冲刷试验结合体积法估算不同流量(2、4、8 L min-1)和坡度(5°、10°、15°、20°、25°)条件下,细沟侵蚀体积及其分布规律,进而研究黄土细沟侵蚀过程及坡度、流量对其的影响。结果表明:细沟侵蚀过程不是沿其均一恒定的,累积侵蚀泥沙量及含沙量均随着细沟的增长近似呈指数增加,且这个趋势在陡坡和大流量下更为显著。坡度和流量的增大均能造成累积侵蚀泥沙量及含沙量的增加,即导致细沟侵蚀程度加重,但是流量对于侵蚀的影响权重远大于坡度。且实测的侵蚀泥沙总量及水流含沙量与体积法测得累积侵蚀泥沙量及含沙量的对比验证了本试验体积法估算细沟侵蚀总量及沿程分布规律的准确性及实用性,其结果为细沟侵蚀动态过程研究及预测提供了理论依据。     

Improving precision in sediment source and erosion process distinction in an upland catchment,south-eastern Australia

Analysis of sediment sources is an important component in the development of catchment sediment budgets and in determining links between erosion from sources and sediment delivery to catchment outlets. In this study ¹³⁷Cs and ²¹⁰Pb_ex were used to determine surface and sub-surface source contributions of fine sediment in a small upland headwater catchment (1.6 km²) in south-eastern Australia. The findings from this analysis are employed in an adjustment procedure to better differentiate sediment source erosion processes by utilising channel survey and erosion pin data. This improved the precision of estimates of sediment-source erosion-process contributions from hillslopes and channel/gully walls. A mean of 74% of in-channel deposits and suspended sediment exiting the study catchment was derived from sub-surface sources and when adjusted for erosion process this increased to 81%, which may be attributed to channel and gully wall erosion alone. Net erosion of the channel floor was low and constitutes only a small part of the total channel source input to sediment flux. Variability in sediment source contributions within the catchment was high, with rapid transition from hillslope to channel source dominance of sediment flux with distance downstream in the study catchment.     

铁路工程建设中重塑坡面单元产流产沙规律研究

本文通过野外人工降雨试验的方法,对铁路工程建设中各主要坡面单元的产流产沙情况与原始坡面的产流产沙情况进行了比较研究。发现：（1）坡面产流：施工营地＞路堑边坡＞施工便道≈原始地面;（2）坡面产沙：路堑边坡＞施工便道＞施工营地≈原始地面。同时对工程中坡面产流产沙的因素进行了讨论,认为：（1）工程中重塑坡面单元上的产流主要受坡度和坡面土层的密实度等因素的影响,而坡面土壤前期含水量亏缺程度则是影响产流时间的关键因素;（2）重塑坡面单元上的侵蚀程度主要受坡面土层密实度、坡度以及受人为干扰土层的厚度等因素的影响。     

不同植被类型对降雨径流和泥沙的影响

植被对控制水土流失、调节气候、减缓径流、削减洪峰有特别重要的作用。本文通过对乔木型、乔灌混交型、灌木型不同植被降水径流及泥沙观测,分析了不同植被类型对降水径流及泥沙的影响,为水土流失治理采用生物措施提供科学依据。