Considering spatial distribution and deposition of sediment in lumped and semi‐distributed models

The goal of this paper is to test a new semi-lumped sediment delivery concept to consider deposition. With this method, the distance between sediment source and river channel is taken into account. It is based on the assumption that sediment delivery rates (SDR-values) are related to the length of the flow path of the sediment from source area to channel. For each subwatershed an average weighted distance to the river channel can be calculated whereby cells with little or no soil erosion have a high weight. The procedure was implemented in SWAT-G (Soil and Water Assessment Tool) and calibrated and validated for two watersheds in Belgium and Germany. The results point out that the proposed method is a significant improvement of the sediment routine compared to existing lumped equations such as the MUSLE. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  Anton Van Rompaey,et al.  Modelling mean annual sediment yield using a distributed approach , 2001 .

[2]  J. Poesen,et al.  Prediction of concentrated flow width in ephemeral gully channels , 2002 .

[3]  V. Ferro,et al.  Testing a distributed approach for modelling sediment delivery , 1998 .

[4]  Marco Pilotti,et al.  Distributed evaluation of the contribution of soil erosion to the sediment yield from a watershed , 1997 .

[5]  J. Poesen,et al.  Using sediment deposits in small ponds to quantify sediment yield from small catchments: possibilities and limitations , 2002 .

[6]  W. Green,et al.  Studies on Soil Phyics. , 1911, The Journal of Agricultural Science.

[7]  G. Ollesch,et al.  A new index for rainfall erosivity on a physical basis , 2002 .

[8]  J. Poesen,et al.  Factors controlling sediment yield from small intensively cultivated catchments in a temperate humid climate , 2001 .

[9]  W. H. Wischmeier,et al.  Predicting rainfall erosion losses : a guide to conservation planning , 1978 .

[10]  A. Steegen,et al.  Factors controlling sediment and phosphorus export from two Belgian agricultural catchments. , 2001, Journal of environmental quality.

[11]  Gerard Govers,et al.  Evaluating the effects of changes in landscape structure on soil erosion by water and tillage , 2000, Landscape Ecology.

[12]  G. R. Foster,et al.  RUSLE: Revised universal soil loss equation , 1991 .

[13]  A.P.J. de Roo,et al.  Modelling runoff and sediment transport in catchments using GIS , 1998 .

[14]  Philippe J. J. Desmet,et al.  Effects of Interpolation Errors on the Analysis of DEMs , 1997 .

[15]  Gerard Govers,et al.  A strategy for controlling error of distributed environmental models by aggregation , 1999, Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci..

[16]  A. D. Roo,et al.  The LISEM project : An introduction , 1996 .

[17]  J. Poesen,et al.  The nature of small-scale flooding, muddy floods and retention pond sedimentation in central Belgium , 1999 .

[18]  Jean Poesen,et al.  Spatial evaluation of a physically-based distributed erosion model (LISEM) , 1999 .

[19]  Hans-Georg Frede,et al.  SWAT-G, a version of SWAT99.2 modified for application to low mountain range catchments , 2002 .

[20]  John R. Williams,et al.  LARGE AREA HYDROLOGIC MODELING AND ASSESSMENT PART I: MODEL DEVELOPMENT 1 , 1998 .

[21]  Gerard Govers,et al.  GIS-based simulation of erosion and deposition patterns in an agricultural landscape: a comparison of model results with soil map information , 1995 .