The negative impact of sediments on the environment and water resources is widely acknowledged with many watercourses in Montenegro and in the South Eastern European Region. To reduce sediment exports from the big river basins discharging to the accumulations, it is essential to identify the sources: critical sub basins and the quantity of its sediment yield and runoff. The off-site impacts of runoff and eroded soil, eutrophication of water bodies, loss of reservoir capacity, muddy flooding of roads and communities, are increasingly recognised. Establishing the correlation between on-site erosion rates with off-site impacts is complicated because of the limited data on soil erosion processes in Montenegro and the dynamic nature of this process over space and time. The use of computer-graphic methods allowed the quantification of the environmental effects of soil erosion. We used modelling of sediment yield and runoff for calculation of soil erosion intensity for a Zim Potok watershed of Polimlje, Montenegro. Ecological factors, which are the basis for the calculation of soil erosion intensity, are included in the IntErO simulation model, with the Erosion potential analytical method of Gavrilovic embedded in the algorithm of this computer-graphic method. Our results shown that the calculated maximal outflow from the river basin may be 144 m3s-1 for the 100 years return time flood. The sediment yield was calculated as 689 m³yr-1, specific 155 m³km-2yr-1. The important results of this study are the determination of erosion processes in the study watershed and new particular information about the recent state of runoff and sediment yield in formats that can facilitate its efficient management and protection, illustrating the possibility of sediment yield modelling with such approach.
Soil erosion in the Zim Potok watershed, Polimlje river basin, Montenegro
BILLI, Paolo;FAZZINI, Massimiliano;
2015
Abstract
The negative impact of sediments on the environment and water resources is widely acknowledged with many watercourses in Montenegro and in the South Eastern European Region. To reduce sediment exports from the big river basins discharging to the accumulations, it is essential to identify the sources: critical sub basins and the quantity of its sediment yield and runoff. The off-site impacts of runoff and eroded soil, eutrophication of water bodies, loss of reservoir capacity, muddy flooding of roads and communities, are increasingly recognised. Establishing the correlation between on-site erosion rates with off-site impacts is complicated because of the limited data on soil erosion processes in Montenegro and the dynamic nature of this process over space and time. The use of computer-graphic methods allowed the quantification of the environmental effects of soil erosion. We used modelling of sediment yield and runoff for calculation of soil erosion intensity for a Zim Potok watershed of Polimlje, Montenegro. Ecological factors, which are the basis for the calculation of soil erosion intensity, are included in the IntErO simulation model, with the Erosion potential analytical method of Gavrilovic embedded in the algorithm of this computer-graphic method. Our results shown that the calculated maximal outflow from the river basin may be 144 m3s-1 for the 100 years return time flood. The sediment yield was calculated as 689 m³yr-1, specific 155 m³km-2yr-1. The important results of this study are the determination of erosion processes in the study watershed and new particular information about the recent state of runoff and sediment yield in formats that can facilitate its efficient management and protection, illustrating the possibility of sediment yield modelling with such approach.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
