| Erosion Prediction |
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| CATEGORIES ABOUT EROSION PREDICTION | |
| geology | |
| environmental soil science | |
| geomorphology | |
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Because there is a wide discrepancy between predicted and observed erosion rates, models are better as research tools than as public policy and regulatory instruments or for prescriptive design measures for constructed landforms. But some models may provide useful guidance for the design engineer if adequately calibrated and verified for local conditions and if the design accounts for the uncertainty. Most erosion modelling is applied to existing sites of known topography and material properties to guide land management activities. Designers of constructed landforms, however, have considerable control over the topography, cover soil placement, initial revegetation, and to a lesser extent the substrate properties – flexibility that is generally uneconomical for farmers and ranchers and most users of erosion models. On the other hand, miners have little input into post closure land use practices and management. Methods to estimate erosion rates include: - purely statistical models - subjectively determined erosion rates using expert judgement combined with a database of erosion rates of natural and reclaimed sites (natural and industrial analogs) - surveying of existing erosional or depositional features of known age (or as determined by dating of deposits) to determine average erosion rates. Analysis of historical aerial photographs is often employed. - site-specific empirical models that relate slope, watershed size, and rainfall - empirical and semi-empirical or deterministic models based on laboratory and field flume measurements of erosion under simulated rainfall or flow conditions - physically based gully erosion models - landform and landscape scale models, often GIS based, that apply erosion mechanics or statistical relationships to predict changes in topography and erosion rates - sediment-budget models based on watershed monitoring SEE ALSO REFERENCES McKenna, G.T., 2002. ''Sustainable mine reclamation and landscape engineering''. PhD Thesis, University of Alberta, Edmonton, 661 pp. |
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