A Sediment Yield Equation from an Erosion Simulation Model

Abstract

Sediment is widely recognized as a significant pollutant affecting water quality. To assess the impact of land use and management practices upon sediment yield from upland areas, it is necessary to predict erosion and sediment yield as functions of runoff, soil characteristics such as erodibility, and watershed characteristics. The combined runoff-erosion process on upland areas was modeled as overland flow on a plane, with rill and interrill erosion. Solutions to the model were previously obtained for sediment concentration in overland flow, and the combined runoff-erosion model was tested using observed runoff and sediment data. In this paper, the equations are integrated to produce a relationship between volume of runoff and total sediment yield for a given storm. The sediment yield equation is linear in runoff volume, but nonlinear in distance and, thus, watershed area. Parameters of the sediment yield equation include the hydraulic resistance parameter, rill and interrill erodibility terms, and flow depth-detachment coefficient and exponent.