Assessment of Soil Erosion Rate and Sediment Yield in a Catchment Contributing to Hirakud Dam, India

Sediment transport theories involving the commencement of its movement, transportation, and deposition must be precisely assessed in order to forecast the discharge of sediments into the reservoir basin. Ib river basin is one of the main uncontrolled tributaries of river Mahanadi, with catchment area 5897.97 km2, transporting 17 × 105 Ton of sediment on an average basis per monsoon season (Jun-Oct) to Hirakud reservoir (according to Bhubaneswar, CWC data 2000–2017). This study used a GIS platform-based Ferro and Minacapalli's (1995) sediment deposition rate (SDR) model to determine the basin-specific roughness coefficient (β) of the study area. The catchment grid-wise β based SDR model was employed to estimate sediment yield of the whole catchment by adopting potential soil loss (PSL) estimated from revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE). The estimated sediment yield was validated with 96% accuracy using the observed data, signifying satisfactory performance evaluation of β through the SDR model. From the potential soil loss analysis during the monsoon period of 2000–2017, it was found that more than 40 ton/ha of soil loss occurs from 23% land surface of the study area, indicating importance of its assessment for the basin. From grid-based erosion susceptibility map it was observed that ground slope was more sensitive parameter than land use & land cover class and type of soil for the erosion process. Strong correlation of β\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\beta$$\end{document} with drainage density (R2 = 0.94) and ruggedness ratio (R2 = 0.89) was observed, which suggests evaluation of sediment yield of ungauged catchments using β of a gauged catchment similar to the ungauged catchment under consideration in-terms of geomorphologic characteristics.