Estimation of soil erosion and sediment yield using GIS at catchment scale

Rabin Bhattarai, Dushmata Dutta

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

A GIS-based method has been applied for the determination of soil erosion and sediment yield in a small watershed in Mun River basin, Thailand. The method involves spatial disintegration of the catchment into homogenous grid cells to capture the catchment heterogeneity. The gross soil erosion in each cell was calculated using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) by carefully determining its various parameters. The concept of sediment delivery ratio is used to route surface erosion from each of the discritized cells to the catchment outlet. The process of sediment delivery from grid cells to the catchment outlet is represented by the topographical characteristics of the cells. The effect of DEM resolution on sediment yield is analyzed using two different resolutions of DEM. The spatial discretization of the catchment and derivation of the physical parameters related to erosion in the cell are performed through GIS techniques.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1635-1647
Number of pages13
JournalWater Resources Management
Volume21
Issue number10
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2007

Keywords

  • DEM
  • GIS
  • Sediment delivery ratio
  • Sediment yield
  • Soil erosion

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Civil and Structural Engineering
  • Water Science and Technology

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