Testing a distributed approach for modelling sediment delivery

Abstract Both the theoretical basis of a distributed approach to sediment delivery and its agreement with basin sediment yield measurements are tested. At first, by using morphological data of five Apulian and four Calabrian basins, the applicability of a theoretically-based relationship for evaluating the sediment delivery ratio of each morphological unit SDR h, into which a basin is divided, is verified. Using the morphological data of the nine investigated basins, the sediment delivery relationship, i.e. the relationship of the basin sediment delivery ratio SDR Wand SDR h, is tested. The analysis showed that the relationships, proposed by Ferro (1997), establishing the dependence of the …

A comparative study of rainfall erosivity estimation for southern Italy and southeastern Australia

Abstract In this paper, using Sicilian and Australian rainfall intensity data, a comparison between different estimators (modified Fournier index F, FF index) of the rainfall erosivity factor in the USLE was made. The relationship between the modified Fournier index and the mean annual rainfall, P, was theoretically derived. The K constant, linking the FF index and P, and its cumulative distribution function (CDF) were used to establish hydrological similitude among different geographical regions of southern Italy and southeastern Australia. To predict the erosion risk for an event of given average recurrence interval, the probability distribution of the annual value F a.j of the Arnoldus i…

Validating the use of caesium-137 measurements to estimate soil erosion rates in a small drainage basin in Calabria, Southern Italy

Recent concern for problems of soil degradation and the offsite impacts of accelerated erosion has highlighted the need for improved methods of estimating rates and patterns of soil erosion by water. The use of environmental radionuclides, particularly caesium-137 (137Cs), as a means of estimating rates of soil erosion and deposition is attracting increasing attention and the approach has now been recognised as possessing several important advantages. However, one important uncertainty associated with the use of 137Cs measurements to estimate soil erosion rates is the need to employ a calibration relationship to convert the measured 137Cs inventory to an estimate of the erosion rate. Existi…

Predicting soil loss on moderate slopes using an empirical model for sediment concentration

Summary The objective of this investigation was to estimate event soil loss per unit area from bare plots in central and southern Italy using an empirical model for sediment concentration. The analysis was developed using data collected on bare plots differing in length (11–44 m) and slope (10–26%) at three Italian stations (Masse, Umbria; Caratozzolo, Calabria; Sparacia, Sicily). At first, an analysis was carried out, using the experimental data collected at Sparacia, to establish a relationship between sediment concentration and hydrological variables, such as runoff, rainfall amount and single storm erosion index. Then, an empirical model to estimate plot soil loss as a function of rainf…

Applying the bootstrap technique for studying soil redistribution by caesium-137 measurements at basin scale

Abstract The use of the bootstrap technique to estimate the reference level of137 Cs in an uneroded site is tested. The analysis is developed using 137Cs measurements made in a small experimental Sicilian basin. In the reference area the 137Cs activity is normally distributed with a known sample mean value, m equal to 94.4 mBq cm−2. The influence of137 Cs reference site sampling was determined generating samples having a fixed size, N and six different values of the sample coefficient of variation, CV, by a Monte Carlo technique. Then, for each size N, the probability distribution of the mean μ of the sequences generated by Monte Carlo technique is defined. The soil redistribution is determ…

Monitoring and predicting sediment yield in a small Sicilian basin

Identifying areas of a basin that are most sensitive to erosion have stimulated the study of within–basin variability of the sediment–delivery processes and the use of spatially distributed models. To verify the reliability of a sediment–delivery distributed model applicable at the morphological unit scale (i.e., the area of clearly defined aspect, length, and steepness), experiments were carried out at mean annual and event scales in a small Sicilian basin. A Geographical Information System is briefly presented into which the measurements carried out at the basin outlet (runoff, sediment yield, etc.) and other point and areal information (soil erodibility, digital terrain model, etc.) were…

Modelling sediment delivery processes by a stream tube approach

Abstract The sediment delivery processes due to the travel along a hydraulic path having an uniform slope and to the concave shape of the path are modelled. In particular, using a power equation for modelling the slope profile and RUSLE with two different expressions of the topographic factors, a criterion to define the erosion active slope length, i.e. the slope length in which no deposition processes occur, is initially proposed. Then, the RUSLE equation is adapted to concave profiles by a correction factor of the topographic factors depending on slope curvature. Finally, the deduced relationships (equations (19) and (27)) for correcting the topographic factors for a concave slope are exp…

Predicting the equilibrium bed slope in natural streams using a stochastic model for incipient sediment motion

In this paper, a method to predict the equilibrium bed slope in natural streams based on the incipient motion criterion is proposed. The method is based on the criterion suggested by Gessler to simulate the grain size distribution of the armour coat using the concept of critical shear stress of a sediment mixture. In particular, a different expression of the probability for a single particle size to be part of the armour coat is firstly proposed; then, a simple two-steps criterion is suggested to estimate the safety factor required by the proposed approach. The method is applied in three different Italian regions (Calabria, Basilicata, and Tuscany) and required several field campaigns invol…

Predicting soil loss in central and south Italy with a single USLE-MM model

Purpose: The USLE-MM estimates event normalized plot soil loss, Ae,N, by an erosivity term given by the runoff coefficient, QR, times the single-storm erosion index, EI30, raised to an exponent b1> 1. This modeling scheme is based on an expected power relationship, with an exponent greater than one, between event sediment concentration, Ce, and the EI30/Pe(Pe= rainfall depth) term. In this investigation, carried out at the three experimental sites of Bagnara, Masse, and Sparacia, in Italy; the soundness of the USLE-MM scheme was tested. Materials and methods: A total of 1192 (Ae,N, QREI30) data pairs were used to parameterize the model both locally and considering all sites simultaneously. …

Preface: Proceedings of the 14th IASWS international conference

Preface to the Proceedings of the 14th IASWS international conference

Closure to “Applying Hypothesis of Self-Similarity for Flow-Resistance Law in Calabrian Gravel-Bed Rivers” by Vito Ferro and Paolo Porto

Testing a spatially distributed sediment delivery model (SEDD) in a forested basin by cesium-137 technique

The aim of the paper is to validate the sediment delivery distributed (SEDD) model for estimating hillslope sediment yield estimates using net soil erosion values obtained by the cesium-137 technique. The cesium-137 technique provides spatially-distributed measurements useful to verify the predictive capability of a distributed sediment yield model. The application of the cesium-137 technique requires a calibration procedure to convert measurements of 137Cs inventories to estimates of net soil erosion rates. Rainfall and sediment yield data from 1978 to 1994 in a small Calabrian basin forested with eucalyptus trees, were initially used to calibrate, at mean annual temporal scale, the SEDD m…

Flood Frequency Analysis for Sicily, Italy

In this paper a regional flood frequency analysis based on the two-component extreme value TCEV distribution is developed using flood data recorded in Sicily. The hierarchical approach, characterized by three investigation levels for estimating the parameters of the theoretical distribution, is discussed first. The highest level of homogeneity hypothesis with regard to the skewness coefficient was verified by using a Monte Carlo technique and taking account of the separation effect proposed by Matalas et al. in 1975. This analysis also showed 1 the inability of the generalized extreme value model to reproduce the empirical cumulative distribution function CDF of the skewness coefficients, a…

Length Slope Factors for applying the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation at Basin Scale in Southern Italy

In this paper, for a basin divided into morphological units, a distributed model based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), with different expressions for the topographic factors, and on the sediment delivery ratio of each morphological unit is used. At first, the caesium-137 data available from a Sicilian basin are calibrated with two different models [the Proportional Method (PM), the Simplified Mass Balance (SMB) model] to provide net soil loss data for each morphological unit. Then, for a selected expression of the topographic factor, the slope length exponent is calculated for each morphological unit, equating the calculated sediment yield with the net soil loss. The an…

Linking sediment yield and caesium-137 spatial distribution at basin scale

Abstract Identifying areas of the landscape that are most sensitive or susceptible to erosion stimulated the study of within-basin variability of the sediment delivery processes and the use of spatially distributed models coupled with Geographic Information Systems. The progress of sediment delivery distributed modelling is also dependent on the availability of measurements able to establish the link between eroded soil leaving an area and the patterns of erosion and deposition occurring along the hydraulic path from the considered area to the nearest stream reach. In this paper, the tracer technique using the radionuclide137Cs and its employment in sediment yield studies at basin scale are…

Evaluating the Effectiveness of Forest Crop to Mitigate Erosion Using a Sediment Delivery Distributed Model

In this paper sediment yield data, measured from 1978 to 1997 in a small experimental Calabrian basin reafforested with Eucalyptus trees (Eucalyptus occidentalis Engl.), and RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) coupled with a sediment delivery distributed model are used to evaluate the antierosive effects of this forest cover. At first, the soil loss measureinents carried out in two experimental plots, located in the basin, are used to evaluate the crop and management factor C of RUSLE far Eucalyptus coppice. The reliability of the selected C factor value is verified by comparing, at an event scale, the measured and the calculated sediment yield values at the basin outlet. Then, a M…

Assessing theoretical flow velocity profile and resistance in gravel bed rivers by field measurements

Previous studies showed that integrating a power velocity profile, deduced applying dimensional analysis and the incomplete self-similarity condition, the flow resistance equation for open channel flow can be obtained. At first, in this paper the relationship between the Gamma function of the power velocity profile, the channel slope and the Froude number, which was already empirically introduced in a previous paper, is now theoretically deduced. Then this relationship is calibrated using the field measurements of flow velocity, water depth and bed slope carried out in 101 reaches of gravel bed rivers available by literature. The proposed relationship for estimating Gamma function and the t…

Validating erosion rate estimates provided by caesium-137 measurements for two small forested catchments in Calabria, southern Italy

Increasing concern for problems of soil degradation and the off-site impacts of accelerated erosion has generated a need for improved methods of estimating rates and patterns of soil erosion by water. The use of environmental radionuclides, particularly 137 Cs, to estimate erosion rates has attracted increased attention and the approach has been shown to possess several important advantages. However, the use of 137 Cs measurements to estimate erosion rates introduces one important uncertainty, namely, the need to employ a conversion model or relationship to convert the measured reduction in the 137 Cs inventory to an estimate of the erosion rate. There have been few attempts to validate the…

Applying Hypothesis of Self-Similarity for Flow-Resistance Law in Calabrian Gravel-Bed Rivers

In this paper, the results of an investigation carried out to test the applicability of a flow-resistance law on gravel-bed rivers in southern Italy (fiumare) are reported. First, dimensional analysis and self-similarity theory are applied for deducing the flow-resistance law (i.e., relationship among friction factor, mean velocity, shear stress, and physical properties) for gravel-bed rivers with a high boulder concentration. The proposed approach is calibrated and tested using two independent data sets (104 reaches of some Calabrian fiumare). Then, the incomplete self-similarity hypothesis is also applied to theoretically deduce the flow-velocity profile, which was integrated for obtainin…

Sediment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) Model

Because eroded sediments are produced from different sources throughout a basin, it is often advantageous to model sediment delivery processes at basin scale using a spatially distributed approach....

Identifying a dominant discharge for natural rivers in southern Italy

Abstract Natural rivers are subjected to continuous adjustments in response to any change in the environment. These environmental changes may occur naturally, as in the case of climatic variation or changes in vegetative cover, or may be related to human activities including channelization, damming, bank protection, and bridge construction. Identifying the value of that discharge (‘dominant’ or ‘effective’ discharge, QD) considered responsible for the main changes operated by a river has been a subject of great challenge to scientists and engineers during the last decades. In fact, this threshold value is largely adopted for stream-management decisions, for predicting the stable slope upstr…