JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

Nowadays application of soil conditioners for mitigation and reduction of runoff is a current method. Considering the advantages of Polyacrylamide (PAM), this study was arranged to evaluate impacts of this soil conditioner on soil infiltration rate, runoff and erosion control. To fulfill the goal, a factorial experiment in a completely randomized design was carried out with four PAM treatments (0, 6, 10, 20 kgha^-1), three slope levels (3, 6 and 9 %), three irrigation treatments and three replications. Surficial (0-10 cm) soil samples were collected from Shahrekord University campus and poured into square plots (55×55cm) with 15 cm depth, after pretreatments. The plots were treated with a simulated rainfall intensity of 36 mm.h^-1 for 15 minutes and the attributed runoff, sediment load and drained water were collected and measured. The results showed significant differences among the runoff and soil erosion of control and of PAM treated soils. PAM minimized the raindrop negative impacts on soils and improved water infiltration and diminished the attributed runoff. Soil treatment with PAM as a soil conditioner significantly reduced soil erosion and sediment yield in all treatments.

The SCS-CN developed by the USDA Soil Conservation Service is a widely used technique for estimation of direct runoff from rainfall events. The watershed CN represents the hydrological response of watershed as an indicator of watershed potential runoff generation. The aim of this research is determining the CN from recorded rainfall-runoff events in different seasons and analyzing its relationship with rainfall components in the Jafarabad Watershed, Golestan Province. The CN values of 43 simultaneous storm events were determined using SCS-CN model and the available storm events of each season have been separated and the significant differences of CN values were analyzed using ANOVA method. The Triple Diagram Models provided by Surfer software were used to analyze the relationships of CNs and rainfall components. Results showed that the mean values of CN were 60 for summer and winter seasons and the CN values in the spring and autumn seasons were 50 and 65, respectively. The inter-relationships of CN amounts and rainfall characteristic showed that the high values of CNs were related to high rainfall intensities (>10 mm/hr) and rain-storms with total rainfall more than 40 mm. Also the CN values were about >70 for the storm events with 40-80% runoff coefficient values.

Due to the lack of necessary equipment for measuring and recording changes in watershed runoff and flood situation after the implementation of corrective actions, using hydrologic models is considered as an efficient tool to assess the undertaken actions and simulate the behavior of the watershed before and after the implementation of these measures. The present study aimed to simulate the effects of corrective actions on runoff components using HEC- HMS hydrological models in the form of a rangeland and watershed plan in 2006 and the predicting plan of applicable operations in a region in the Meikhoran watershed, Kermanshah. For this purpose, three scenarios including the conditions before running the rangeland and watershed plan, the conditions after running the project and requirements and enforcement actions resulting from the proposed location map were considered in the spring of 2006. First, a map of the curve number (CN) changes was prepared under all three scenarios caused by the vegetation changes and by implementing HEC-HMS model, the curve number criteria, the peak discharge and flood volume were determined to assess the changes in hydrological basins and their values for all three scenarios were calculated and compared. The results showed that the HEC- HMS model for the base period (first scenario) with Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient 0/551 and the coefficient of determination 0/63 had an acceptable accuracy in predicting runoff. Nash-Sutcliffe coefficient for the second and third scenarios was 766/0 and 0/777, respectively. Also, the results showed that in the second scenario,  there was an 8/85 and 7/74% decrease in the peak flows and runoff volumes, respectively,  and these values for the proposed operation were estimated to be 12.84% and 6.33%, respectively. Overall, the results indicated the considerable impact of rangelands and watershed management (third scenario) on the reduction of effective runoff components, particularly flood peak, on the basis of the location model.

One of the main sources of runoff in arid and semi-arid mountainous highlands is typically composed of before Quaternary formations. Since the structure and lithology of formations are different, varying formations can have different significance in terms of runoff and sediment. The present study aimed to investigate the sediment production potential and the runoff generation threshold on three formations (Shirkooh Granite, Shale, Sandstone and Conglomerate of Sangestan and Taft Limestone) in Shirkooh mountain slopes. The 60 mm/h rainfall intensity with the 40 minute continuity, according to region rainfall records, and the ability of the rainfall simulator were selected as the basis for the study. Field experiments were conducted in dry conditions based on one square meter plot on rocky slopes with a gradient of 20 to 22 percent and a maximum thickness of 30 cm of soil. The results showed that in 60 mm/h rainfall intensity, the minimum rainfall to produce runoff on Sangestan, Shirkooh and, Taft, was 10, 10.7 and 16.7 mm, respectively. The maximum amount of the sediment was measured on Sangestan, Taft and Shirkooh, respectively. Statistical tests related to runoff and sediment production on all three formations confirmed a significant difference at the 5 % level. In terms of the time required to start runoff, the minimum time was for Sangestan, Shirkooh and Taft, respectively. According to the results, in terms of the potential for runoff generation and sediment production, Sangestan, Shirkooh and Taft can be ranked from high to low levels.

One of the management practices to reduce the harmful effects of chemical fertilizers and to protect soil and water resources is applying a combination of organic and chemical fertilizers that can better than using them separately. Therefore, in order to understand and identify the effectiveness of this management practice, it is necessary to examine runoff and sediment production. This study was carried out in an agricultural sloping land located in the North of Iran, near Sari city. For this purpose, runoff measurement plots of 1 × 5 m were set up under natural rainfall based on a randomized block experimental design. Soil samples were measured at 0-10 and 10-20 cm depths. In this study, parameters such as runoff (volume, nitrate content, sediment yields), soil physical features (porosity and infiltration coefficient), and soil chemical properties (EC, OC, N, CEC, pH) were measured. The results showed that among soil chemical and physical properties, just N, EC and pH significantly influenced the Municipal Solid Waste Compost. A PCA was carried out, showing that these treatments explained 74.35% of the total variance of the results. Accordingly, it could be stated that using soil and water conservation management practices can rapidly significantly improve the soil properties in the sloping lands.

Nowadays, water supply for the sectors of household consumption, agriculture, green spaces and industry is currently one of the most important challenges for governments in many parts of the world, especially in arid and semi-arid climate regions such as Iran. The aim of this study was to simulate the amount of run-off from the daily precipitation for Sarpol-e Zahab city, for the purpose of estimating the required amount of water for the irrigation of the green spaces of the city. In this study. After providing information and using the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) map of city, all individual sub-basins of the basin were produced. All data related to creating and overlaying hydrologic, climatologic and physiographic layers were used according to the HEC-HMS hydrologic model. The run-off depth and flood volume of each sub-basin were obtained through the SCS method. Then the required amount of water for the green areas of Sarpol-e Zahab city was calculated. The efficient rainfall was estimated using four methods including SCS, 80 percentage, reliability, and USDA for each month, separately. Finally, the amount of needed water for the green area was obtained using these four mentioned methods. The results indicated that the role of curve number in the infiltration rate was more than other variants. Impermeability of urban basins and changes was created due to the growth and development of the city such as removal of vegetation, soil compaction, creation of the water collection and leading surface waters, decreasing the amount of water penetrating to soil significantly. The amount of surface water for sub-basins was estimated to be 266000 cubic meters. Besides, the results showed the amount of required water for 5 months of the year (from early May to September late) using four methods of SCS, 80percentage, reliability  and USDA was  equal to 243525, 238062, 267865 and 236458 cubic meters, respectively. The amount of the estimated runoff volume was 266,000 cubic meters. Regarding the area of green spaces in Sarpol-e Zahab city and its daily need of water, this volume of water could  supply the required amount of water to irrigate the green area of the city for five months (From May to September).

To preserve soil as a productive resource, a balance between natural capability and utilization must be established to achieve through land suitability evaluation. The aim of this study was to compare the run-off and deposition of different land uses of Beheshtabad watershed in the current situation and in compliance with standardized land use fitted situation. For this purpose, land use map in its current state was provided using Landsat 7 images and land use suitability map was obtained by FAO (1979) instructions. SWAT model was then applied to simulate runoff and sediment yield by using these land use maps. To do this, the curve number method was used for calculating the runoff, the Muskingam was applied for channel routing, and Hrgrave-samani was employed for potansial evapotranspiration. The results confirmed that considering suitability in using lands in Beheshtabad watershed caused the reduction of the average runoff from 99.4 mm/yr to 82.8 mm/yr (17%) and sediment rate of 10.7 to 7.8 t/ha. yr (27%). Also, the reduction percentage in some land uses, such as dry, irrigated cropland and downstream ranges, was much more.

Soil erosion and its consequences are important factors in forest road network management. Cutslopes are the most important source of making sediment among different parts of the forest roads structure. For this research, a new and bare road in district No. 2, series No. 5 of NekaChoob forest, was selected; then the study data was measured. The study design was a completely randomized design in 10 plots with the size of 2 m² along 500 meters of road with the 8 natural rainfall events. The results of the Pearson correlation showed that among soil properties, the contents of the liquid limit at the 5% confidence level and the plastic limit at the 1% confidence level had positive correlations with runoff and soil loss. Also, organic matter at the 1% confidence level and the contents of the sand at the 5% confidence level had negative correlations with runoff and soil loss. With increasing the soil moisture and bulk density, runoff and soil loss were enhanced. The results of the multivariate model showed that soil loss could be estimated using the Plastic Limit and sand percentage variables with a the correlation coefficient of 0.948.

Few studies have been done regarding the role of the raindrop in the hydrodinamic mechanism of soil erosion. In this study, rainfall simulation experiments were conducted to evaluate the role of raindrop in runoff discharge, sediment concentration and hydraulic properties of flow under four slope gradients (5, 10, 15 and 20%) in a clay soil using a 90 mm.h^-1 rainfall intensity to reach the steady state flow. Soil sample was packed into the erosion flume with 0.3m× 0.4m × 4 m in dimensions and tested under two soil surface conditions:  one with raindrop impact and one without raindrop impact. The results showed that runoff discharge, sediment concentration, flow depth, shear stress, stream power, Reynolds number and runoff velocity under without raindrop impact condition were significantly lower than those in the condition  with the raindrop impact with a factor of 0.62 to 3.54, 0.08 to 11.83, 0.91 to 0.96, 0.26 to 3.25, 0.52 to 4.45, and 0.36 to 3.27, 0.23 to 0.79 times, respectively; on the other hand, the Darcy Wysbach, Chezy and Manning coefficients were increased significantly under without raindrop impact (P<0.01). Flow velocity was the key hydraulic parameter strongly affecting the hydraulic properties. These findings indicated the importance of raindrop impact in the detachment rate of soil particles through the change of the hydraulic characteristics. This study also revealed the key role of raindrop impact on the runoff hydraulic characteristics, as well as particle detachments rate in rills. Information about the role of raindrop impact is a substantial step in modeling the rill erosion. Therefore, elimination of raindrops impact, especially in the steep slopes, with the conservation of natural vegetation cover can sufficiently prevent runoff production as well as the particle detachment rate.

One of the most important and complex processes in the watersheds is the identification and prediction of surface water changes. The main processes associated with surface water include precipitation, percolation, evapotranspiration and runoff. In this research, the semi-distributed model, SWAT, was used to simulate ground water and surface water in Semnan catchment in a monthly scale. A sensitivity analysis was perfomed to evaluate and demonstrate the influence of the model parameters on the four major components of water budget including surface runoff, lateral flow, groundwater and evapotranspiration. River discharge data from 2004 to 2014 were used for the calibration and those of 2014 to 2016 were applied for the validation. The results of sensitivity analysis showed that the most sensitive parameters were: SoL_K(Saturated hydraulic conductivity), CH_K2 (Effective hydraulic conductivity in main channel), RCHRG_DP(Deep aquifer percolation fraction and CN2 (Moisture condition II curve number). The simulation accuracy using Nash-Sutcliffe and coefficient of determination for Shahrmirzad, Darjazin, and Haji Abad hydrometric stations was about 0.60 to 0.80 and 0.80 to 0.90 for the calibration and validation period, respectively, showing a good performance in the simulation of river flow. According to the water balance results, about 87.6% of the total inflow into the watershed was actual evapotranspiration, 3% was surface run off, 3% was percolation, and the rest was related to the soil moisture storage.

The effective use of rainwater is a key issue in agricultural development in arid and semi-arid regions. The tillage system as an important soil management measure can affect the rainwater retention, soil moisture content, and in consequence crop yield in rainfed lands. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of slope gradient and tillage direction on rainwater use efficiency (RWUE) in rainfed lands in Zanjan Province. The field experiment was performed in five slope gradients (12.6, 15.3, 17, 19.4, and 22%) and two tillage directions (along slope and on contour tillage) at two replications. Mass soil water content was determined at 5-day intervals and runoff was measured after rainfalls. Wheat grain yield was determined for each plot and RWUE was computed using the proportion of wheat grain yield and precipitation. Base on the results, runoff, soil moisture, wheat grain yield, and RWUE were affected by tillage directions, so that runoff in contour line tillage decreased about 6.4 times compared to along slope tillage and in consequence increased soil moisture, wheat grain yield, and RWUE about 8.7, 24.8, and 24.8%, respectively. Increasing runoff production in contour line tillage at steeper slopes was associated with a lower capacity of cultivated furrows that strongly declined soil water retention and negatively affected wheat grain yield and RWUE in the lands. This study revealed that the efficiency of the contour tillage in water retention and RWUE decreases in steeper slopes in rainfed lands.

In the present study, CanESM2 climate change model and stormwater management model (SWMM) were employed to investigate the climate change effects on the quantity and quality of urban runoff in a part of Karaj watershed, Alborz Province. The base period (1985-2005) and future period (2020-2040) are considered for this purpose. Based on the existing main and lateral drainage system and to be more accurate, the watershed was divided into 37 sub-watersheds by ArcGIS software. To simulate rainfall-runoff, the intensity-duration-frequency (IDF) curve has been prepared for a 2-hour duration and 10-year return period, for the base period and RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 climate change scenarios based on the obtained precipitation data from Karaj synoptic station. Results showed that mean 24-hour precipitation values in RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios will increase by 21% and 11%, respectively, and maximum 24-hour precipitation values will decrease by 17% and 23%, respectively, as compared to the observed values in the base period. Also, based on the results of quantitative and qualitative runoff modeling in the study watershed, and according to the outflow hydrograph in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, the outlet runoff discharge will decrease by 5.8% and 7.1%, respectively. Also, the flooded areas in the watershed will decrease by 13% and 15.28%, respectively. The concentration of pollutants in the RCP2.6 and RCP8.5 scenarios, compared to the base period, including total suspended solids (TSS), will increase by 7.48% and 9.24%, total nitrogen (TN) will increase by 6.93% and 8.48%, and lead (Pb) will increase by 7.32% and 8.91%, respectively.

Surface runoff is one of the most significant components of the water cycle, which increases soil erosion and sediment transportation in rivers and decreases the water quality of rivers. Therefore, accurate prediction of hydrological response of watersheds is one of the important steps in regional planning and management plans. In this regard, the rainfall-runoff modeling helps hydrological researchers, especially in water engineering sciences.  The present study was conducted to analyze the rainfall-runoff simulation in the Gorganrood watershed located in northeastern Iran using AWBM, Sacramento, SimHyd, SMAR, and Tank models. Daily rainfall, daily evapotranspiration, and daily runoff of seven hydrometric stations in the period of 1970-2010 and 2011-2015 were used for calibration and validation, respectively. The automated calibration process was performed using genetic evolutionary search algorithms and SCE-UA methods, using Nash Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE) and root mean of square error (RMSE) evaluation criteria. The results indicated that the SimHyd model with NSE of 0.66, TANK model using Genetic Algorithm and SCE-UA methods with NSE of 0.67 and 0.66, and Sacramento model using genetic algorithm and SCE-UA methods with NSE of 0.52 and 0.55 have the best performance in the validation period.

The objective of the present study was to investigate the performance of some of the extracted information for mapping land degradation using remote sensing and field data in Fras province. Maps of vegetation cover, net primary production, land use, surface slope, water erosion, and surface runoff indicators were extracted from MOD13A3, MOD17A3, Landsat TM, SRTM, ICONA model, and SCS model, respectively. The rain use efficiency index was obtained from the net primary production and rainfall map, which was calculated from meteorological stations. The final land degradation map was prepared by integrating all the mentioned indicators using the weighted overlay method. According to the ICONA model, 5.1, 9, 47.21, 27.91, and 10.73 percent of the study area were classified as very low, low, moderate, severe, and very severe water erosion; respectively. Overlaying the ICONA map with other indicators showed that very high and high classes, moderate, and low and very low classes of land degradation covered 1.3, 18.7, 70, 0.9, and 9.1 percent of the study area, respectively. According to the results, integrating remote sensing with ICONA and SCS models increases the ability to identify land degradation.

Runoff is formed by spending some time after rain and significantly depends on rainfall intensity, soil moisture, and slope. One of the fundamental questions about runoff is the time that it starts to create. In this research, the runoff start time in sandy loam soil was evaluated experimentally under different conditions using a precipitation simulator machine. The rainfall intensity parameters of (60, 80, and 100 millimeters per hour) and the slope of (0 and 5 percent) were investigated. The rainfall was created in the three soil treatment types completely dry (S_dry), the dry soil that had been saturated 24 hours before the test (S_24hrlag), and the dry soil that had been saturated 48 hours before the test (S_48hrlag). Eighteen tests were conducted on this soil. At the end of each test, the soil moisture was measured. The experimental results were compared with the numerical model of Green-Ampt. According to the Kendall and Spearman correlation test results, as the rainfall be intense, the start time of the runoff is lower. Also, the runoff starts at a faster time in the slope of 5 percent for every three types of soil. Also, the results of starting time of the runoff in the soil with a delay of 48 hours in the rain compared to the soil with a delay of 24 hours in the rain are closer in all of the rainfall intensity and slopes compared to the case of dry soil. Therefore, in the experiments related to a delay of 24 hours, the time of the start of runoff decreases. While in tests with a delay of 48 hours, it was not much different from completely dry soil. Also, the Green-Ampt results are close to the experimental results (R²=0.9775), and the maximum difference between the two mentioned methods is 4.8 minutes. Therefore, it can be used with the Green-Ampt method to calculate the start time of runoff in sandy loam soil in different states of rainfall intensity and bed slope.

Awareness of water resources status is essential for the proper management of resources and planning for the future due to the occurrence of climate change in most parts of the world and its impact on different parts of the water cycle. Hence, many studies have been carried out in different regions to analyze the effects of climate change on the hydrological process in the coming periods. The present study examined the effects of climate change on surface runoff using the Atmosphere-Ocean General Circulation Model (AOGCM) in Khomeini Shahr City. The maximum and minimum temperatures and precipitation of the upcoming period (2020-2049) were simulated using a weighted average of three models for each of the minimum and maximum temperatures and precipitation parameters based on the scenario A2 and B1 (pessimistic and optimistic states, respectively) of the AOGCM-AR4 models. The LARS-WG model was also used to measure the downscaling. The HEC-HMS was used to predict runoff. The effects of climate change in the coming period (2020-2049) compared with the observation period (1971-2000), in the A2 scenario, the minimum and maximum temperatures would increase by 1.1 and 1.6 Degrees Celsius, respectively, and the precipitation would decrease 17.8 percent. In the B1 scenario, the minimum and maximum temperatures would increase by 1.1 and 1.4 degrees Celsius, respectively, and the precipitation would decrease by 13 percent. The results of runoff were different in the six scenarios in the way the most runoff reduction is related to the scenario of fixed land use and scenario A2 (22.2% reduction), and the most increase is related to the scenario of 45% urban growth and scenario B1 (5.8% increase). So, according to increase urban texture in the future and consequently enhance the volume of runoff, this volume of runoff can be used to feed groundwater, irrigate gardens, and green space in the city.