Abstract
Sediment is one of the principal pollutants of surface waters of the United States. Efforts by the USDA to quantify and control sediment erosion have historically focused on fields and upland areas. There is a growing body of evidence in agricultural areas, however, that the locus of sediment erosion has shifted from fields and uplands to channels. This is a critical issue in the Conservation Effects Assessment Project that evaluates the effectiveness of controls on sediment erosion. Rapid geomorphic assessments indicate that channel contributions are significant sources of sediment in the studied watersheds. The relative importance of channel processes are obtained by comparing “reference” yields for the ecoregion with the respective watershed yields. Annual suspended sediment yields for the Conservation Effects Assessment Project watersheds exceed the median value for stable streams by 243% in Iowa, 290% in New York, 630% in Mississippi, and between 2,120% and 7,410% in Oklahoma. Erosion from streambanks is an important process that must be addressed in management strategies aimed at controlling sediment production and delivery.
Footnotes
Andrew Simon is a research geologist at the Watershed Physical Processes Research Unit, National Sedimentation Laboratory, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Oxford, Mississippi. Lauren Klimetz is a research associate in the School of Engineering, University of Mississippi, University, Mississippi.
- © 2008 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Log in using your username and password
Purchase access
In this issue
Jump to section
Related Articles
Cited By...
- Comparing Agricultural Conservation Planning Framework (ACPF) practice placements for runoff mitigation and controlled drainage among 32 watersheds representing Iowa landscapes
- Temporal trends in amount and placement of conservation practices in the South Fork of the Iowa River watershed
- An overview of research into conservation practice effects on soil and water resources in the Upper Washita Basin, Oklahoma, United States
- Stream bank and sediment movement associated with 2008 flooding, South Fork Iowa River
- Factors controlling streambank erosion and phosphorus loss in claypan watersheds
- Current patterns and future perspectives of best management practices research: A bibliometric analysis
- Effects of hydrology, watershed size, and agricultural practices on sediment yields in two river basins in Iowa and Mississippi
- Suspended sediment supply dominated by bank erosion in a low-gradient agricultural watershed, Wildcat Slough, Fisher, Illinois, United States
- Impact of weather and climate scenarios on conservation assessment outcomes
- A decade of conservation effects assessment research by the USDA Agricultural Research Service: Progress overview and future outlook
- Fine sediment sources in Conservation Effects Assessment Project watersheds
- Stream bank erosion as a source of sediment and phosphorus in grazed pastures of the Rathbun Lake Watershed in southern Iowa, United States
- Conservation practice establishment in two northeast Iowa watersheds: Strategies, water quality implications, and lessons learned
- Effects of the resolution of soil dataset and precipitation dataset on SWAT2005 streamflow calibration parameters and simulation accuracy
- Historical channel movement and sediment accretion along the South Fork of the Iowa River
- Environmental effects of agricultural conservation: A framework for research in two watersheds in Oklahoma's Upper Washita River Basin
- The Conservation Effects Assessment Project benchmark watersheds: Synthesis of preliminary findings