ASSESSMENT OF SOIL EROSION PROCESSES BY USING THE 'INTERO' MODEL: CASE STUDY OF THE DUBOKI POTOK, MONTENEGRO

摘要

Soil erosion process is one of the most devastating processes of land degradation. The appropriate assessment of soil erosion intensity is crucial for the simulation of erosion processes that is further important for controlling and monitoring of riverine hydrology, ecology and water quality. The scientists are using quantitative and qualitative approaches for describing erosion processes through field observations and laboratory experiments. Indirect estimates of the erosion processes have been implemented using suspended sediment yield data of rivers, but also by measuring the sediments deposited in reservoirs. Modelling in ungauged basins has been considered as a key challenge in hydrological sciences. The objective of this research was to simulate responses of erosion processes, calculating sediment yield by using the Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) model. The results of the assessment pointed out a low potential of soil erosion risk in the studied basin, although in the basin prevail very steep slopes (36.74%). The peak discharge from the basin, Qmax, may come to 187 m~3 s~(-1) once in the period of 100 years. Coefficient of the river basin erosion, Z, is calculated on 0.395 what indicates that the river basin belongs to the 4th destruction category (of five). The average value of the sediment yields per km~2 for all the river basins of Polimlje region was calculated on 331 m~3 km~(-2) per year and on 278 m~3 kn~(-2) per year for the studied Duboki Potok watershed. This suggests that the results of the assessment obtained are eligible for the study area and the wider region. This points to the justification and possibility of application of such approach of multiple-criteria decision making in multifunctional watershed management, with the emphases on sustainable management for analysing the choice of the optimum decisions, and thus contributes to more reliable planning in sustainable river basin management. The results of the model calculations applied indicate that the model simulates basin hydrology and its associated sediment dynamics reasonably well and may be a useful tool for such assessments for the other basins of the Black Sea Watershed, with similar climate and physical-geographical characteristics.