Simulating the effect of vegetation cover on the sediment yield of mediterranean catchments using SHETRAN

Lukey, B. T., Sheffield, J., Bathurst, J. C., Lavabre, J., Mathys, N. and Martin, C. (1995) Simulating the effect of vegetation cover on the sediment yield of mediterranean catchments using SHETRAN. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth, 20 (3-4), 427-432. (doi:10.1016/0079-1946(95)00056-9).

Abstract

The sediment yield of two catchments in southern France was modelled using the newly developed sediment code of SHETRAN. A fire in August 1990 denuded the Rimbaud catchment, providing an opportunity to study the effect of vegetation cover on sediment yield by running the model for both pre-and post-fire cases. Model output is in the form of upper and lower bounds on sediment discharge, reflecting the uncertainty in the erodibility of the soil. The results are encouraging since measured sediment discharge falls largely between the predicted bounds, and simulated sediment yield is dramatically lower for the catchment before the fire which matches observation. SHETRAN is also applied to the Laval catchment, which is subject to Badlands gulley erosion. Again using the principle of generating upper and lower bounds on sediment discharge, the model is shown to be capable of predicting the bulk sediment discharge over periods of months. To simulate the effect of reforestation, the model is run with vegetation cover equivalent to a neighbouring fully forested basin. The results obtained indicate that SHETRAN provides a powerful tool for predicting the impact of environmental change and land management on sediment yield.

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Contributors

Author: J. Sheffield

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