A GIS-based distributed soil erosion model: A case study of typical watershed, Sichuan Basin

Based on the measuring data and Digital Elevation Data (DEM) in a typical watershed--Hemingguan Watershed, Nanbu County, Sichuan Province of China, a GIS-based distributed soil erosion model was developed particularly for the purple soil type. It takes 20 m x 20 m grid as calculating unit and operates at 10-minute time interval. The required input data to the model include DEM, soil, land use, and time-series of precipitation and evaporation loss. The model enables one to estimate runoff, erosion and sediment yield for each grid cell and route the flow along its flow path to the watershed outlet. Furthermore, the model is capable of calculating the total runoff, erosion and sediment yield for the entire watershed by recursion algorithm. The validation of the model demonstrated that it could quantitatively simulate the spatial distribution of hydrological variables in a watershed, such as runoff, vegetation entrapment, soil erosion, the degree of soil and water loss. Moreover, it can evaluate the effect of land use change on the runoff generation and soil erosion with an accuracy of 80% and 75% respectively. The application of this model to a neighboring watershed with similar conditions indicates that this distributed model could be extended to other similar regions in China.