Evaluating of Sediment Delivery Ratio on Spatial and Temporal Variabilities in Semiarid Watershed Brazil
Victor Casimiro Piscoya *
Department of Rural Technology, Environmental Engineering Pós- Graduate Rural Federal of Pernambuco University (UFRPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
Vijay P. Singh
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Zachry, Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843-2117, USA
José Ramon Barros Cantalice
Department of Rural Technology, Environmental Engineering Pós- Graduate Rural Federal of Pernambuco University (UFRPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
Moacyr Cunha Filho
Department of Informatics and Statistics, Rural Federal of Pernambuco University (UFRPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
Sergio Monthezuma Santoianni Guerra
Department of Rural Technology, Environmental Engineering Pós- Graduate Rural Federal of Pernambuco University (UFRPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
Cristina dos Santos Ribeiro
Environmental Engineering Pós- Graduate Rural Federal of Pernambuco University (UFRPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
Renisson Neponuceno de Araújo Filho
Federal University of Tocantins (UFT), Tocantins, Brazil
Sandro Augusto Bezerra
Federal Institute of Pernambuco-Campus Vitória de Santo Antão (IFPE), Recife-PE, Brazil
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
Evaluation of sediment delivery ratio is important for determining watershed sediment yield. Rates of both interrill and rill erosion were calculated under shrub and uncovered Inceptisols conditions and were not observed to the presence by ravines and gullies in the watershed of Jacu River, in a semiarid region, Brazil. Direct measurement campaigns of suspended sediment and bedload were also carried out by means of the US DH–48 for collection of suspended sediment samples and US BLH–84used to collect samples bed load. The soil loss due to interril erosion under uncovered conditions was equal to 8.43 t ha-1 and was considered high, and the same was true for the values of rill erosion with erodibility equal to 0.0021142 kg N-1 s-1 and critical shear stress (τc) equal to 2.34 Pa. The mean value of sediment delivery ratio of Jacu watershed was equal to .165 and ranged from .29 in the year 2 8 to . 26 in 2 1 . This variation was associated with the natural variability of semiarid environment, indicating the necessity of assessment for a longer period to deepen our knowledge of sediment delivery ratio of the Jacu semiarid watershed.
Keywords: Watershed sediment yield, semiarid region, sediment delivery ratio, erosion