Start |Grid View | Author Index | View Uploaded Presentations | Meeting Information

GSA Connects 2022 meeting in Denver, Colorado

Paper No. 165-13
Presentation Time: 9:00 AM-1:00 PM

COMPARISON OF EROSION POTENTIAL IN TWO AGRICULTURAL DOMINATED WATERSHEDS, CENTRAL ILLINOIS


EFOBO, Oghenevwede1, PETERSON, Eric1, PERRY, William L.2, O'REILLY, Catherine3 and TWAIT, Rick4, (1)Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environment, Illinois State University, Felmley Hall 206, Campus Box 4400, Normal, IL 61790, (2)School of Biological sciences, Illinois State University, School of Biological Sciences Julian Hall 210, Normal, IL 61761, (3)Department of Geography, Geology, and the Environement, Illinois State University, Felmley Hall 206 Campus Box 4400 Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790-4400, (4)Public Works Water Division, City of Bloomington, Bloomington, IL 61701

The agricultural industry represents the greatest source of increased sedimentation within streams, lakes, and reservoirs. Used in soil loss prediction models, K Factor values provide a measurement of a soil’s susceptibility to erosion. Stream Power Index (SPI) measures the erosive power of flowing water over a given watershed. Using GIS, K Factors and SPI values were used to delineate areas prone to erosion within two watersheds dominated by row crop agriculture, which could aid in limiting the mobilization of suspended sediments and nutrients within the watersheds.

The two watersheds, Money Creek (MC) and Six Mile Creek (SMC) have areas of 123 km2 and 47.6 km2 , respectively. MC watershed has a slope that ranges from 0-16%, while SMC watershed has a slope that ranges from 0-40%.

The SPI models were developed based upon slope and contributing areas derived from a 30m digital elevation model (DEM) and employing geoprocessing tools in ArcMap 10.8. A dataset for K Factor value were obtained from the Web Soil Survey (WSS) operated by the United State Department of Agriculture-Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA-NRCS). The erosion potential maps for the watersheds were created from the combination of the soil K Factors and SPI models.

The watersheds have K Factor values that range from 0.20 to 0.49 for MC and 0.24 to 0.43 for SMC. The SPI models showed that MC watershed has more areas for soil loss and thus, more erosive power than SMC watershed. This is attributed to several factors that include watershed size and discharge. MC watershed is 21/2 times larger than SMC watershed and experiences higher stormflow discharge than SMC watershed. On the other hand, SMC watershed has a higher soil K Factor values and higher baseflow discharge than MC watershed. The calculated high-soil loss area for MC watershed (0.09%) is greater than that of SMC watershed (0.04%). Erosion potential maps created for the watersheds showed that areas near the outlet at MC watershed were the most susceptible to erosion whereas within the SMC watershed, areas at the headwaters were the most susceptible to erosion.

Findings from this study can be used as a tool to identify the most sensitive areas within the watersheds with the aim of mitigating the risks rather than concentrating on the entire watersheds which may be too costly and time consuming.

Session No. 165--Booth# 41

T10. Physical and Biological Processes, Interactions, and Restoration in River Systems (Posters)
Tuesday, 11 October 2022: 9:00 AM-1:00 PM
Exhibit Hall F (Colorado Convention Center)
Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol 54, No. 5
doi: 10.1130/abs/2022AM-379644
© Copyright 2022 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.
Back to: T10. Physical and Biological Processes, Interactions, and Restoration in River Systems (Posters)
<< Previous Abstract | Next Abstract