Soil Erosion and Sediment Assessment in the Great Lakes Basin

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Soil Erosion and Sediment Assessment

in the Great Lakes Basin

Da Ouyang, Jon Bartholic


Institute of Water Research

Michigan State University


James Selegean


US Army Corps of Engineers
-

Detroit District

Great Lakes Hydraulics and Hydrology Office

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


•
Introduction


•
Methodology


•
Data Source and Processing


•
Results

Soil Erosion and Sediment Assessment

in the Great Lakes Basin

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved



•

“Broad
-
brush” analysis on sediment load in the GLB


•

Assist in prioritizing tributary modeling efforts


•

Reviewing various erosion and sediment transport models


•

Modeling upland erosion and sediment transport


•

Mapping sediment contributing areas in the GLB


•

Collecting data with various GIS layers for future modeling efforts


Introduction

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Fact Sheet

•
Water surface area: 94,680 square miles

•
Drainage area: 291,200 square miles

•
8 states (US) and 2 Canadian provinces

•
244 counties (U.S.)

•
109 sub
-
watersheds (USGS 8
-
digit)

•
About 35 projects are dredged each year

•
About 3.8 million cubic yards of sediment at a cost of
$20.6 million each year

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved



•
GIS
-
based Models

•
Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation
–

RUSLE

•
Spatially Explicit Sediment Delivery Model
–

SEDMOD


Methodology

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved




RUSLE


A = R K LS C P


A = Soil loss in tons per acre per year

R = Rainfall
-
runoff erosivity factor

K = Soil erodibility factor

S = Slop steepness factor

L = Slope length factor

C = Cover
-
management factor

P = Support practice factor

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved




Sediment Yield


SY = A * SDR


Where SY = Sediment Yield


A = Gross Soil Loss


SDR = Sediment Delivery Ratio


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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved



Sediment Delivery Ratios


(spatially lumped model)



SDR =


A



Where SDR = sediment delivery ratio


A = watershed size




,


= coefficients

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved



Spatially Explicit Sediment Delivery Model (SEDMOD)


(Adjusted the spatially lumped model)



SDR = 39 A
–
1/8

+


DP


Where SDR = sediment delivery ratio


A = watershed area in square km




DP = difference between the composite delivery


potential and its mean value



©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


SEDMOD

Delivery Potential composite layer in GRID


DP = (SG)r(SG)w + (SS)r(SS)w + (SR)r(SR)w +


(SP)r(SP)w + (ST)r(ST)w + (OF)r(OF)w


Where SG = slope gradient


SS = slope shape


SR = surface roughness


SP = stream proximity


ST = soil texture


OF = overland flow index


r = parameter rating (1
-
100)


w = weighting factor (0
-
1)

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Land Cover

Roughness


Landuse/Tillage

C factor

Soil

Clay content



Soil erodibility


K factor

DEM

LS factor


Delivery

Ratio

Soil

Erosion

Sediment


Yield

P factor

R factor

A Flowchart of Modeling

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Data Sources


•

EPA’s BASINS dataset (USGS/USDA)


(DEM, STATSGO soils, Land use/Landcover)


•

Agricultural Profile Project in the GLB


(Base maps)


•

Other (e.g. RUSLE2)


(Rainfall
-
Runoff Erosivity Factor R)


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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Data Processing

(Area
-
weighted average)


clay1 = (clay1_high + clay1_low) / 2
clay2 = (clay2_high + clay2_low) / 2

……



For a map unit polygon:


Average clay = clay1 * (component1)% +


clay2 * (component2)% +


.…..

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Elevation in the Great Lakes Basin

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2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Stream Network in the Great Lakes Basin

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Land Use in the Great Lakes Basin

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


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2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Agricultural Cropland in the Great Lakes Basins

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


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2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Rainfall
-
Runoff Erosivity R Factor

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Results

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Potential Soil Loss from Cropland in

the Great Lakes Basin

0
10000000
20000000
30000000
40000000
50000000
60000000
70000000
Potential Soil Loss (tons/yr.)
Conventional
Tillage
Reduced Tillage
No Till
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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Sediment Load from Cropland in

the Great Lakes Basin

0
2000000
4000000
6000000
8000000
10000000
12000000
14000000
16000000
Estimated Sediment Load
(tons/yr)
Conventional Tillage
Reduced Tillage
No Till
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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Soil Erosion from Cropland (tons/yr.)

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2003 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Potential Sediment Loading

Contributed from Cropland (tons/yr.)

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Average Erosion and Sediment Rate

(tons/acre/year)

Ave. Erosion

(tons/acre/yr.)

Ave. Sediment

(tons/acre/yr.)

Conventional
Tillage

1.82

0.43

Reduced Tillage

0.83

0.19

No Till

0.30

0.07

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Estimated Average Soil Loss from Cropland

(tons/acre/year)

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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Top 10 Contributing Watersheds

(USGS 8
-
digit sub
-
watersheds)

Total Soil Erosion
(tons/yr.)
Total Sediment
(tons/yr.)
1
SENECA
SENECA
2
UPPER GENESEE
ST. JOSEPH
3
ST. JOSEPH
UPPER GENESEE
4
WOLF
SANDUSKY
5
MANITOWOC-SHEBOYGAN
WOLF
6
KALAMAZOO
MANITOWOC-SHEBOYGAN
7
SANDUSKY
KALAMAZOO
8
LOWER GENESEE
GRAND, OH
9
LOWER GRAND
LOWER GENESEE
10
GRAND, OH
CHAUTAUQUA-CONNEAUT
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2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Top 10 Watersheds with Potentially High Erosion
Croplands

(
USGS 8
-
digit sub
-
watersheds)

Ave. Erosion
(tons/acre/yr.)
Ave. Sediment
(tons/acre/yr.)
1
UPPER GENESEE
CATTARAUGUS
2
CATTARAUGUS
ASHTABULA-CHAGRIN
3
BUFFALO-EIGHTEENMILE
UPPER GENESEE
4
CHAUTAUQUA-CONNEAUT
BEAVER-LESTER
5
ASHTABULA-CHAGRIN
ONTONAGON
6
ONTONAGON
CHAUTAUQUA-CONNEAUT
7
CUYAHOGA
BUFFALO-EIGHTEENMILE
8
SENECA
CUYAHOGA
9
BEAVER-LESTER
GRAND, OH
10
GRAND, OH
BEARTRAP-NEMADJI
©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Summary


•

Used GIS
-
based Erosion and Sediment Delivery
models

•

Estimated Potential Erosion/Sediment load from
agricultural cropland, the biggest contributor

•

Identified high erosion/sediment contributing
watersheds

•

Assisted in prioritizing watersheds for tributary
modeling efforts

©
2002 Institute of Water Research, all rights reserved


Thank You!