Costanza Di Stefano

Sediment delivery processes and the spatial distribution of caesium-137 in a small Sicilian basin

The sediment delivery processes occurring in a small Sicilian basin are modelled using the spatially distributed SEDD model recently proposed by Ferro and Minacapilli. The model is applied by using soil data (grain-size distribution, organic matter content, etc.) of 129 samples uniformly distributed over the study area and compiling the available information (topographic map, soil data, etc.) into a Geographical Information System. Finally, the predictive capability of the distributed sediment delivery approach is tested experimentally using the caesium-137 measurement technique. The comparison between calculated sediment yield and the corresponding measured caesium-137 loss is used to validate the SEDD model at the scale of both the single morphological unit and the entire basin.

Modelling sediment delivery processes by a stream tube approach

Abstract The sediment delivery processes due to the travel along a hydraulic path having an uniform slope and to the concave shape of the path are modelled. In particular, using a power equation for modelling the slope profile and RUSLE with two different expressions of the topographic factors, a criterion to define the erosion active slope length, i.e. the slope length in which no deposition processes occur, is initially proposed. Then, the RUSLE equation is adapted to concave profiles by a correction factor of the topographic factors depending on slope curvature. Finally, the deduced relationships (equations (19) and (27)) for correcting the topographic factors for a concave slope are experimentally tested, comparing the calculated sediment yield values with the measurements carried out at the outlets of three small Calabrian basins.

Flow resistance equation for rills

In this paper a new flow resistance equation for rill flow was deduced applying dimensional analysis and self-similarity theory. At first the incomplete self-similarity hypothesis was used for establishing the flow velocity distribution whose integration gives the theoretical expression of the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor. Then the deduced theoretical resistance equation was tested by some measurements of flow velocity, water depth, cross section area, wetted perimeter and bed slope carried out in 106 reaches of some rills modelled on an experimental plot. A relationship between the velocity profile, the channel slope and the flow Froude number was also established. The analysis showed that the Darcy-Weisbach friction factor can be accurately estimated by the proposed theoretical approach based on a power-velocity profile.

Establishing a Soil Loss Threshold for Limiting Rilling

AbstractIn this paper a frequency analysis of event soil loss measurements collected in the period 1999–2012 at the microplots and plots of the Sparacia Experimental Area in Sicily, southern Italy, was developed. The analysis was carried out using the annual maximum soil loss measurements normalized by the mean soil loss measured at a given temporal and spatial scale. The empirical frequency distribution of the normalized variable was well fitted by two Gumbel’s theoretical probability distributions discriminated by a value of the normalized variable equal to 2. This last value discriminates between the relatively low and frequent values of the normalized variable and the high and rare ones. The annual maximum soil loss was demonstrated to be representative of the total annual soil erosion at the Sparacia Experimental Area. Then, a threshold soil loss value at the annual temporal scale was calculated by multiplying the frequency factor, equal to 2, by the mean annual maximum soil loss values for each give...

Sediment delivery processes and chemical transport in a small forested basin/Processus de production sédimentaire et transport chimique dans un petit bassin versant forestier

Abstract Because the properties of eroded soil affect the deposition phenomena and transport capacity of chemical materials by eroded particles, recent research is trying to link the grain-size distribution of the eroded sediment to that of the original soil in order to explain the enrichment of chemical content of the sediment with the respect to the parent soil. In this study, the spatial distribution of nitrogen, phosphorus and total organic carbon was firstly deduced using the measurements carried out in 47 soil samples distributed over a forested basin together with a kriging interpolation method. Then the load of each chemical was calculated at morphological unit and basin scales using the above-mentioned spatial distributions and sediment yield values calculated by the SEDD (SEdiment Delivery Distributed) model, which couples the universal soil loss equation with a spatial disaggregation criterion of sediment delivery processes. Finally, at basin scale, a new expression of the enrichment ratio of a given chemical was applied.

Comparing theoretically supported rainfall‐runoff erosivity factors at the Sparacia (South Italy) experimental site

Hydrological Processes. 2018;32:507–515. Abstract Interpreting rainfall‐runoff erosivity by a process‐oriented scheme allows to conjugate the physical approach to soil loss estimate with the empirical one. Including the effect of runoff in the model permits to distinguish between detachment and transport in the soil erosion process. In this paper, at first, a general definition of the rainfall‐runoff erosivity factor REFe including the power of both event runoff coefficient QR and event rainfall erosivity index EI30 of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is proposed. The REFe factor is applicable to all USLE‐based models (USLE, Modified USLE [USLE‐M] and Modified USLE‐M [USLE‐MM]) and it allows to distinguish between purely empirical models (e.g., Modified USLE‐M [USLE‐MM]) and those supported by applying theoretical dimensional analysis and self‐similarity to Wischmeier and Smith scheme. This last model category includes USLE, USLE‐M, and a new model, named USLE‐M based (USLE‐MB), that uses a rainfall‐runoff erosivity factor in which a power of runoff coefficient multiplies EI30. Using the database of Sparacia experimental site, the USLE‐MB is parameterized and a comparison with soil loss data is carried out. The developed analysis shows that USLE‐MB (characterized by a Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency Index NSEI equal to 0.73 and a root mean square error RMSE = 11.7 Mg ha) has very similar soil loss estimate performances as compared with the USLE‐M (NSEI = 0.72 and RMSE = 12.0 Mg ha). However, the USLE‐MB yields a maximum discrepancy factor between predicted and measured soil loss values (176) that is much lower than that of USLE‐M (291). In conclusion, the USLE‐MB should be preferred in the context of theoretically supported USLE type models.

Testing slope effect on flow resistance equation for mobile bed rills

Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, Palermo 90128, Italy Department of Earth and Marine Science, University of Palermo, Via Archirafi 20, Palermo 90123, Italy Correspondence Vincenzo Pampalone, Department of Agricultural, Food and Forest Sciences, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Building 4, Palermo 90128, Italy. Email: vincenzo.pampalone@unipa.it

Assessing hydrological connectivity inside a soil by fast-field-cycling nuclear magnetic resonance relaxometry and its link to sediment delivery processes

Connectivity is a general concept used to represent the processes involving a transfer of matter among the elements of an environmental system. The expression “hydrological connectivity inside the soil” has been used here to indicate how spatial patterns inside the soil (i.e., the structural connectivity) interact with physical and chemical processes (i.e., the functional connectivity) in order to determine the subsurface flow (i.e., the water transfer), thereby explaining how sediment transport due to surface runoff (i.e., the soil particle transfer) can be affected. This paper explores the hydrological connectivity inside the soil (HCS) and its link to sediment delivery processes at the plot scale. Soils sampled at the upstream- and downstream-end of three different length plots were collected together with sediments from the storage tanks at the end of each plot. All the samples were analyzed by traditional soil analyses (i.e., texture, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy with attenuated total reflectance, C and N elemental contents) and fast-field-cycling (FFC) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry. Results revealed that selective erosion phenomena and sediment transport are responsible for the particle size homogeneity in the sediment samples as compared to the upstream- and downstream-end soils. Moreover, while structural connectivity is more efficient in the upstream-end soil samples, functional connectivity appeared more efficient in the downstream-end and sediment samples. Further studies are needed in order to quantitatively assess FFC NMR relaxometry for HCS evaluation.

Assessing soil erosion in a small Sicilian basin by caesium-137 measurements and a simplified mass balance model

Abstract The caesium-137 technique affords both an alternative to conventional measurement methods and an effective quantitative estimate of soil redistribution at the basin scale. Among the available calibration relationships which link the degree of increase or depletion of the 137Cs activity relative to the baseline 137Cs input and sediment yield, the mass balance approach has received increased application for its physical basis. First, the applicability of the refined simplified point-based mass balance (RSPMB) model of Zhang et al. (1999) at the scale of the morphological unit is proposed herein. The 137Cs spatial distribution measured in a small Sicilian basin and the spatial distribution of the sediment yield calculated by a sediment delivery distributed approach are used to estimate values of the two key parameters of the RSPMB model, φ1 and φ2, the fraction of 137Cs fallout incorporated into soil and a particle size correction factor, respectively. Finally, the best procedure for experimental testing of a distributed sediment yield model by using caesium-137 measurements is investigated.

Modelling sediment delivery using connectivity components at the experimental SPA2 basin, Sicily (Italy)

Sediment delivery ratio can be used as a measure of sediment connectivity and it can be linked to the structural connectivity (morphological unit, slope length, slope steepness, travel time) of a basin and to the functional connectivity (rainfall-runoff processes at morphological unit scale). In this paper the sediment connectivity approach was applied at basin scale both using Sediment Delivery Distributed (SEDD) model, which takes into account the hillslope sediment transport, and sediment yield measurements carried out at SPA2 experimental basin (Sicily, Italy). The expression of the sediment delivery ratio SDRi of a morphological unit was modified for highlighting two components corresponding to the structural (SDRF,i) and functional (SDRF,i) sediment connectivity, respectively. For SPA2 basin the frequency distribution of the travel time of each morphological unit was used to estimate the coefficient βL of the structural component of the sediment delivery ratio of each morphological unit. Then, using the sediment yield measurements carried out at the outlet of the experimental SPA2 basin in the period April 2000-March 2015, the SEDD model was calibrated at event scale for estimating the coefficient βF of the functional component of the sediment delivery ratio. At event scale the developed analysis stated that the functional connectivity is dependent on the magnitude of erosion events. Intermediate and high events, which were characterized by the lowest values of the functional coefficient, determine a more high functional connectivity and are characterized by a more efficient sediment transport along the hillslopes. Finally, at annual scale, the model was calibrated for the period 2000–2015 and relationships for estimating the coefficient βF,a of the functional component of the sediment delivery ratio taking into account the intensity of erosion events occurring in each year were determined. At annual scale, the analysis demonstrated that the functional coefficient was always greater than the landscape coefficient and the sediment connectivity was always controlled by the low values of the functional component.