Use of the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model to predict road surface erosion in mountain rangeland areas.

摘要

The Watershed Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model represents the most current erosion prediction technology. WEPP has been applied to the problems of logging road erosion in more mesic forests but has not been tested or evaluated on roadways located in semiarid mountainous ecosystems.; Six rainfall simulation experiments were conducted to measure runoff and sediment yield off three separate plots located on Tickville Road, located on Camp W.G. Williams, a National Guard Training Center in Utah.; There was an excellent correlation between predicted and observed total runoff volumes for all simulations (R{dollar}sp2{dollar} = 0.96). The differences were greater than 10% only for plot 2 wet; otherwise, the average difference for all six simulations was 4.9%. When using Kr, Ki, and TAUc as predicted by rangeland methods, predicted sediment yields differed from those measured, on average, by 82%. Predicted sediment yields differed by only 22% compared to calculated sediment yields, when using the cropland erodibility equations to predict Kr, Ki, and TAUc. A sensitivity analysis showed that percent slope, slope length, days since last tillage, and ridge roughness all had a significant impact on WEPP predicted sediment yields. Results show the effectiveness of the WEPP model in predicting runoff and erosion off native surfaced roads in these semiarid mountainous regions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)