UPLAND EROSION MODELING WITH CASC2D-SED

1 INTRODUCTION Erosion and sedimentation embody the processes of detachment, transport, and deposition of soil particles. Erosion and subsequent deposition can cause major problems. Erosion reduces productivity of cropland, sediment degrades water quality and may carry soil adsorbed polluting chemicals. Deposition in irrigation canals, stream channels and reservoirs reduces structural capacity and requires costly removal. Ideally, an erosion model should describe the physical processes…

UPLAND EROSION MODELING WITH CASC2D-SED

Developed at Colorado State University, CASC2D-SED is a physically-based model simulating the hydrologic response of a watershed to a distributed rainfall field. The time-dependent processes include: precipitation, interception, infiltration, surface runoff and channel routing, upland erosion, transport and sedimentation. CASC2D-SED is applied to Goodwin Creek, Mississippi. The watershed covers 21 km2 and has been extensively monitored both at the outlet and at several internal locations by the ARS-NSL at Oxford, MS. The model has been calibrated and validated using rainfall data from 16 meteorological stations, 6 stream gauging stations and 6 sediment gauging stations. Sediment erosion/deposition rates by size fraction are predicted both in space and time. Geovisualization, a powerful data exploration technique based on GIS technology, is used to analyze and display the dynamic output time series generated by the CASC2D-SED model.