published_or_final_version / Geography and Geology / Master / Master of Philosophy

Round Island is a small (208 ha) islet of volcanic origin located 22.5 km north east of mainland Mauritius and has been classified as a nature reserve since 1957. Two sites were chosen for the installation of environmental monitoring equipment. A series of Gerlach troughs were installed to capture surface sediment transported by runoff, which were used to document sediment yields and determine the particle size distribution. Overall, rainfall and erosivity on Round Island is far less, when compared to mainland Mauritius. However, erosivity from Round Island (2,314.76 MJ.mm.ha-1.h-1.yr-1) is slightly above the global average of 2,190 MJ.mm.ha-1.h-1.yr-1. In terms of sediment transport, the annual sediment movement rates for Round Island were established during this study (0.1248 t.ha-1.yr-1) and were found to be considerably lower than Mauritius (10 t.ha-1.yr-1), as well as other tropical island such as Kauai (0.86 t.ha-1.yr-1) and O’ahu (0.6 t.ha-1.yr-1). Thus, although the estimated rates of soil erosion are very low for humid tropical regions, these rates only reflect the contemporary environmental conditions and cognisance of the landscape history should be incorporated into assessments of soil erosion / Geography / M. Sc. (Geography)

The effect of eucalyptus forests in hidrossedimentologic processes has been little explored by the scientific community, which results in a database containing information related to these incipient effects, especially at the watershed scale. The monitoring and the mathematical modeling are recognized as effective tools of science to supply the lack of information, particularly in natural resource management, in the representation and prediction of these processes. In this sense, the aim of this study was to describe the monitoring data to assess effects of eucalyptus cultivation in the hidrossedimentological processes, to calibrate the input parameters and to verify the potential application of the Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) in the representation of watershed hydrological processes embedded with forest cover. The study was conducted in two forest watersheds located in Eldorado do Sul - RS, and the watershed has an area of 94.46 ha and drainage sub-watershed, which is embedded in the amount and terms of the watershed, has a drainage area of 38.86 ha. The hidrossedimentometrical monitoring began in February 2011 and was conducted within the limits of the watershed in two automatic sections, composed of linigraph, turbidimeters and pluviographs. This work has included monitoring over a period of six months from 02/16/2011 to 08/15/2011. The sediment yield was determined by multiplying the data of sediment concentration and flow. The model LISEM was calibrated from six different rain events. The model input parameters were obtained through surveys conducted in the watershed and literature data. To evaluate the model ability in representing the hydrological processes hydrographs measured in the watershed exutory were used. The monitoring results demonstrated that periods with higher rainfall volume presented a significant increase in peak flows in relation to the driest intervals, as well as an increase in the suspended sediments concentration in the watershed and in the sub-watershed. The events with greater rainfall intensity demonstrated that the smallest drainage area of the subwatershed generated faster answers in flow and sediment concentration. For the watershed, in most events occurred flood wave attenuation with least steeply sloping and lowest hydrograph peaks than the sub-watershed. Specifically, the sediment yield was 38.41 and 33.65 t km-2, during the six months of monitoring for the watershed and for the subwatershed, respectively. The magnitude of sediment yield was 0.77 t ha-1 yr-1 for the watershed and 0.67 t ha-1 yr-1 for the sub-watershed. The LISEM model was able to reproduce adequately the peak flow and direct runoff for the six events used for calibration. On the other hand, the peak time and shape of the hydrograph did not have adequate fit. / O efeito das florestas de eucalipto nos processos hidrossedimentológicos tem sido pouco explorado pela comunidade científica, o que resulta em banco de dados contendo informações incipientes relacionadas a esses efeitos, principalmente na escala de bacias. O monitoramento e a modelagem matemática são reconhecidos como eficientes ferramentas científicas para suprir a carência de informações, principalmente na gestão dos recursos naturais, na representação e na predição desses processos. Nesse sentido, objetivou-se com este estudo, descrever os dados do monitoramento, avaliar os efeitos dos cultivos de eucalipto nos processos hidrossedimentológicos, calibrar os parâmetros de entrada e verificar o potencial de aplicação do modelo Limburg Soil Erosion Model (LISEM) na representação dos processos hidrológicos de bacias hidrográficas embutidas, com cobertura florestal. O estudo foi desenvolvido em duas bacias hidrográficas florestais situadas em Eldorado do Sul RS, sendo que a bacia possui área de drenagem de 94,46 ha e a sub-bacia, que se encontra à montante e embutida em relação à bacia, possui área de drenagem de 38,86 ha. O monitoramento hidrossedimentométrico teve início em fevereiro de 2011 e foi realizado no exutório das bacias, em duas seções automáticas, compostas de linígrafos, turbidímetros e pluviógrafos. O presente trabalho contemplou o monitoramento durante um período de seis meses, de 16/02/2011 a 15/08/2011. Os resultados do monitoramento demonstram que os períodos com maior volume de precipitação apresentaram aumento significativo nos picos de vazão em relação aos intervalos mais secos, assim como aumento na concentração de sedimentos em suspensão, para a bacia e para a subbacia. Os eventos com maior intensidade máxima de precipitação demonstraram que a pequena área de drenagem e o relevo mais acentuado da sub-bacia geraram respostas rápidas na vazão e concentração de sedimentos. Para a bacia hidrográfica, na maioria dos eventos, ocorreu amortização da onda de cheia com hidrogramas menos íngremes e ocorrência após o pico de vazão da sub-bacia. A produção de sedimentos foi de 38,41 e 33,65 Mg km-2, durante os seis meses de monitoramento para a bacia e para a sub-bacia, respectivamente. O modelo LISEM foi calibrado a partir de seis eventos de chuva. Os parâmetros de entrada utilizados para o modelo foram obtidos por meio de levantamentos realizados na bacia e de dados da literatura. Para avaliar a capacidade do modelo em representar os processos hidrológicos, foram utilizados hidrogramas medidos no exutório da bacia. A análise estatística aplicada foi o teste BIAS (Erro (%)) para os parâmetros vazão de pico, escoamento superficial direto e tempo de pico. Para avaliar a eficiência do modelo em reproduzir adequadamente o formato dos hidrogramas, foi utilizado o Coeficiente de eficiência Nash-Sutcliffe (COE) para os seis eventos utilizados na calibração. O modelo LISEM foi capaz de reproduzir adequadamente a vazão de pico e o escoamento superficial direto para os seis eventos utilizados na calibração, indicado pelos baixos erros percentuais. Por outro lado, o tempo de pico e a forma do hidrograma não apresentaram ajuste adequado, indicado pelos elevados erros e valores negativos para o erro e para o COE, respectivamente.

Water-induced soil erosion and shallow landslides interact with each other and need to be studied in an integrated approach to understand hillslope sediment yields. The principal aim of this thesis was to study and model soil erosion and shallow landslides in an integrated way. The thesis presents results from laboratory and catchment-scale studies and modelling. A laboratory flume under a rainfall simulator was used for shallow landslide and soil erosion experiments using sandy and silty loess soils. In the experiments, landslide initiation, retrogressions and slip surface depths were measured and monitored directly or by using video camera recordings. Sediment and runoff were collected from the flume outlet every minute during landslides and every 10 minutes before and after landslides. Changes in the soil slope, after landslides, were recorded. Initially, six experiments including two repetitions were conducted using sandy soils at a 30º and 10º compound slope configuration, but with different soil profile depths. The experimental results showed that total and landslide-driven sediment yields were affected by the original soil profile depth; the greater the depth, the higher the sediment yield. Later, twelve other experiments were conducted on different slopes using silty loess soils. The experimental observations were used to validate an integrated modelling approach which includes WEPP for runoff and soil erosion modelling, a slope stability model for simulating shallow landslides, and a simple soil redistribution model for runout distance prediction. The model predictions were in good alignment with the observations. In all (sandy and silty loess) experiments, peak sediment discharges were related to the landslide events, proximity to the outlet and landslide volume. The post-failure soil erosion rate decreased as a function of changes in the slope profile. The GeoWEPP-SLIP modelling approach was proposed for catchment-scale modelling. The approach simulates soil erosion using the Hillslope and Flowpath methods in WEPP, predicts shallow landslides using a slope stability model coupled with the WEPP’s hillslope hydrology and finally uses a simple rule-based soil redistribution model to predict runout distance and post-failure topography. A case study application of the model to the Bowenvale research catchment (300 ha) showed that the model predictions were in good agreement with the observed values. However, the Hillslope method over-predicted the outlet sediment yield due to the computational weighting involved in the method. The Hillslope method predicted consistent values of sediment yield and soil erosion regardless to the changes in topography and land-cover in the post-failure scenarios. The Flowpath method, on the other hand, predicted higher values of sediment yield in the post-failure vegetation removal scenario. The effects of DEM resolution on the approach were evaluated using four different resolutions. Statistical analyses for all methods and resolutions were performed by comparing the predicted versus measured runoff and sediment yield from the catchment outlet and the spatial distribution of shallow landslides. Results showed that changes in resolution did not significantly alter the sediment yield and runoff between the pre- and post-failure scenarios at the catchment outlet using the Hillslope method. However, the Flowpath method predicted higher hillslope sediment yields at a coarser resolution level. Similarly, larger landslide areas and volumes were predicted for coarser resolutions whereas deposition volume decreased with the increase in grid-cell size due to changes in slope and flowpath distributions. The research conducted in the laboratory and catchment presented in this thesis helped understand the interactions between shallow landslides and soil erosion in an integrated approach.

A physically based, distributed parameter, event oriented, nonlinear, numerical model of watershed response is developed to accommodate the spatial changes in topography, surface roughness, soil properties, concentrated flow patterns and geometry, and land use conditions. The Green and Ampt equation with the ponding time calculation for an unsteady rain is used to compute rainfall excess rates. The kinematic wave equations are used to describe the unsteady one-dimensional overland and channel flow. The unsteady and spatially varying erosion/deposition process on hillslopes and channel systems is described dynamically using simultaneous rates of sediment entrainment and deposition rather than the conventional approach using steady state sediment transport functions. To apply the model the watershed is represented by a simplified geometry consisting of discrete overland flow planes and channel elements. Each plane or channel is characterized by a length, width, and a roughness parameter. For channel elements, a cross-section geometry is also needed. A modular computer program called WESP (Watershed Erosion Simulation Program) is developed to provide the vehicle for performing the computer simulations. Rainfall simulator plots are used to estimate infiltration parameters, hydraulic roughness, and soil erodibility parameters for raindrop impact and overland flow. The ability of the model to simulate watershed response (hydrograph and sedigraph) to a variety of rainfall inputs and antecedent soil moisture conditions is verified using data collected on two small watersheds. The good agreement between the simulated watershed response and the observed watershed response indicates that the governing equations, initial and upper boundary conditions, and structural framework of the model can describe satisfactorily the physical processes controlling watershed response.

Master of Science / Department of Biological & Agricultural Engineering / Aleksey Y. Sheshukov / Soil erosion is one of the main reasons for agricultural land degradation in the world. Losses of land because of high soil erosion rates and rapidly expanding population result in significant reduction of cultivated land area per capita, and shortage of food on the global scale. Soil erosion can be a major source of sediment in the aquatic systems leading to reduction of organism population and poor water quality. Many factors affect soil erodibility, such as, soil properties, rainfall, topographic features, land use, and management practices, among others. The impacts of soil moisture content, however, are not well understood and. therefore, the primary goal of this study was to quantify two soil erodibility parameters, the erodibility coefficient and critical shear stress, under different soil moisture conditions using the jet erosion test (JET). The JET test uses the apparatus (called mini-JET) that creates an impinging jet of water into the soil and records the resulting scour depth over time. The scour depth time series are then fitted into a non-linear soil erosion equation, yielding the sought values of erodibility parameters. For this study, more than 40 soil samples were collected from several sites in Kansas, processed, and prepared to conduct JET tests in the lab setting. The effects of tillage and soil moisture content were of interest to this study. The results showed varied effects of soil type and sample soil moisture condition on the scour depth development and parameters sensitivity. The critical shear stress decreased and the erodibility coefficient increased with the increase of initial moisture content for clay loam soil, while critical shear stress did not change for sandy loam soil. The study also revealed higher erosive properties of soil collected from the tilled field compared to the no-till field.

Master of Science / Department of Agronomy / Nathan Nelson / Phosphorus and sediment runoff are the primary cause of eutrophication in Cheney Lake, the primary water source for Wichita, Kansas. Best Management Practices (BMPs) such as no-till farming practices and nutrient management can be implemented to reduce phosphorus runoff on high-risk agricultural fields. Past efforts have established BMP use in this watershed, although the effectiveness of these efforts has not been evaluated. The goals of this project were to identify any existing water quality trends in the Cheney Lake watershed, estimate the current distribution of erosion in the watershed, and evaluate the placement of BMPs with regards to field-scale erosion risk. Parametric, multi-linear regression and non-parametric, seasonal Mann-Kendall analyses were used to identify trends in the Total Suspended Solids (TSS) and Total Phosphorus (TP) of grab samples from the North Fork Ninnescah River. A Geographic Information System (GIS) model based on the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used to estimate watershed-scale erosion, prioritize agricultural land for BMP placement, and evaluate existing placement of BMPs within the Cheney Lake watershed. No detectible trends were identified in the water quality data due to stream variability, frequency of sampling, or absence of actual improvement in water quality. Additional sampling must be done to detect any trends in the future. BMPs were implemented on 13% of prioritized field area, and 11% of non-prioritized field area. Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) fields were placed on 14% of prioritized field area, and 5% of non-prioritized field area. No-till practices were implemented on 13% of prioritized field area, and 18% of non-prioritized field area. The top 20% eroding fields were identified given current conditions, and account for approximately 56% of the watershed-wide erosion. The GIS method has demonstrated utility in evaluating past erosion control measures for the watershed and in informing future decisions concerning BMP placement.

The diploma thesis deals with an assessment of cadastral territory, which is going through a complex land consolidation. For these purposes, the cadastral area Záborná, that is located in the Vysočina Region, was selected. The main objective of this work is to compare the current state of the territory, in terms of erosion, with the area where the erosion control measures were proposed. Erosion will be calculated using by Wischmeier-Smith's universal soil loss equation. In this cadastral area, it will be necessary to assess in terms of climate, geology and hydrology.

No Brasil, a expansão das áreas agrícolas é o fator mais impactante da agricultura sobre os recursos naturais. Com a crescente ocupação do Cerrado pela agricultura, uma série de problemas ambientais decorrentes do desmatamento como a erosão e a compactação do solo estão surgindo causando transformações radicais na paisagem natural pela retirada de quase toda sua vegetação nativa. O sistema de plantio convencional (SPC) tem sido considerado uma forma de manejo inadequado pelas suas conseqüências freqüentemente irremediáveis de compactação e perdas de solo, ao passo que o sistema de plantio direto (SPD) possibilita a manutenção das condições do solo mais próximas ao ambiente natural, reduzindo assim as taxas de erosão hídrica. Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar a eficiência da mata ripária na retenção dos sedimentos originados por três sistemas de preparo de solo através da técnica da análise da redistribuição do fallout do 137Cs, da Equação Universal de Perdas de solo (EUPS) e de alguns parâmetros físicos e químicos indicadores das condições estruturais do solo, em Goiatuba e Jandaia-GO. Nas três áreas estudadas, com auxilio de um trado tipo caneca, foram tomados perfis de solo em três camadas de 20 cm (0-20, 20-40 e 40-60 cm) em pontos distintos localizados ao longo de transeções lineares no sentido do declive até a mata ciliar localizada a jusante das áreas de estudo. Nas matas ciliares de cada área de estudo foram abertas trincheiras e amostras de solo coletadas para avaliação da atividade de 137Cs e dos parâmetros físicos e químicos dos solos. As amostras de solo coletadas nas transeções e trincheiras (TFSA) foram analisadas quanto à atividade de 137Cs em um detector de raios gama (GEM-20180P, EG&ORTEC) acoplado a um analisador multicanal. Na comparação das médias usou-se o teste de Tukey ao nível de 5% de significância. Os resultados obtidos indicaram que os três sistemas de manejo do solo apresentaram elevadas taxas de erosão e deposição de sedimentos e as matas ciliares à jusante das áreas sob SPC, SPD e pastagem, receberam grandes quantidades de sedimentos. Entre essas, somente a mata ciliar da área de SPC foi capaz de reter os sedimentos com eficiência. As características distintas dos três locais de estudo sugerem que a eficiência da mata ciliar na retenção dos sedimentos gerados na área agrícola e na pastagem, dependente do comprimento e da declividade das vertentes e da largura da mata ciliar. Quanto aos parâmetros físicos avaliados, observou-se que a pastagem e o SPD são os sistemas de manejo de solo que apresentaram melhores condições de preservação do solo em relação ao SPC. Os sistemas de manejo do solo provocaram alterações nos parâmetros físicos e químicos, comparados com a mata ciliar, destacando-se a menor resistência à penetração sob SPC e maior no SPD e pastagem; diminuição na agregação dos solos sob SPC e SPD e aumento sob pastagem e decréscimo nos teores de matéria orgânica e cálcio sob todos os sistemas de manejo / In Brazil, the expansion of agricultural areas causes several problems on natural resources. With the increasing occupation of the Cerrado region by agriculture, a series of environmental problems like deforestation, soil erosion and soil compaction are appearing and causing radical transformations in the natural landscape due to removing almost all native vegetation. The conventional tillage system (CTS) is considered an inadequate form of soil management for its frequently irremediable consequences of soil compaction and soil erosion, and the no till system (NTS) makes the maintenance of the soil conditions possible, leving them close to the natural environment, thus reducing rates of soil erosion. The objective of this work was to evaluate the efficiency of riparian forests in the retention of sediments originated for three different tillage systems, through the fallout 137Cs redistribution technique, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and some physical and chemical parameters that indicate the structural conditions of the soils of Goiatuba and Jandaia-GO. In the three areas, soil profiles were collected in three layers of 20 cm (0-20, 20-40 and 40-60 cm) at distinct points located along linear transects in the direction of the maximum slope until the riparian forest. In the riparian forest of each area, trenches were opened and soil was sampled to evaluate the activity of 137Cs and the physical and chemical parameters of soil. Detection of the activity of 137Cs was made with a gamma ray detector model (GEM-20180P, EG& ORTEC) connected to a multichannel analyzer. The comparison of averages was made using the Tukey test at 5% level of significance. The results indicated that, the three soil tillage systems presented high rates of soil erosion and deposition of sediments and the riparian forest of the areas under CTS, NTS and pasture, located downstream received great amounts of sediments, and that only the riparian forest of CTS was capable to trap the sediments with efficiency. The distinct characteristics of the three studied areas suggest that the efficiency of the riparian forest to retain the sediments generated in the agricultural and pasture areas, depends on the length and the slope of the transects, and of the width of riparian forest. Through the physical and chemical parameters it was observed that the pasture and the NTS were the soil tillage systems that presented the best conditions of soil preservation in relation to the CTS. The tree soil tillage systems caused alterations in the physical and chemical parameters, compared with the riparian forest, mainly by a lower resistance to penetration under CTS and a greater resistance in the NTS and pasture systems; reduction in soil aggregation under CTS and NTS and an increase under pasture, and decrease of organic matter and calcium under all tillage systems

The purpose of this study was to investigate how increasing erosion, caused by increasing precipitation due to climate change, could have an effect on groundwater. Four maps were created using ArcGIS 10.4.1 (ArcMap). The maps include information from climate scenario RCP 8.5 referring to a baseline period from 1961 to 1990, flowage by natural casual factors like water storage or shifting rainfalls, and the geographical representation showing diversity of soil types within Umeå municipality. Each map was analyzed with the risk classification method referred to as - Methods for Inventories of Contaminated Site (MIFO). The study was limited to sites with objects of risk class 1 and 2. The results of the study showed that changes in climate can have a direct impact on precipitation in Västerbotten (Umeå municipality). With increased precipitation the risk of flooding increases in watercourses, which in this study refers to Umeälven. The result showed a high variability of soil erosion in areas near Umeälven where groundwater storage for water supplies were found. Three objects with preliminary class 2 were identified in this area. Other studies have shown that increasing rainfall may, affect soil stability and cause increased soil erosion, and therefore increase the mobility of metals in the soil. The conclusion of this study is that increased precipitation due to a changing climate could cause an increase soil erosion and landslides. This could increase mobility and erosion of soil contaminated with heavy metals and potentially contaminate important areas downstream Umeälven.