JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

Sediment Yield Estimation Using SAGA GIS: A Case Study of

Watershed – 63 of Narmada River.

SnehaS. Parmar#
#Water Resources Engineering and Management Institute, Faculty of Technology & Engineering, The
Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda, Samiala -391410, Ta. & Dist.: Vadodara, Gujarat, India
snehaparmar710@gmail.com

Abstract -Occurrence of soil erosion will lead to sedimentation and siltation of reservoirs in case of major
rivers. Remote sensing data provide compact information to evaluate the sedimentation yield in the reservoirs by
deriving several surface parameters. SAGA (System for Automated Geo-Scientific Analysis) GIS software with
version 6.3.2 used and was used for preparation of maps and to verify the spatial extent of the area. The value of
soil loss can be determined by using predictive model known as RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation)
model approaches. The study area selected for present study is watershed no – 63 of Narmada river lying in
Narmada river watershed situated in two different districts , one of them is Narmada district located in Gujarat
and Nan durbar district located in Maharashtra. Integration of results obtained from satellite data show
Watershed no: 63 comes under very high soil erosion class i.e.33.12 Ton/ha/year (By RUSLE approach)
indicating a moderate to steep slope exist in such area and sustainable moderate land use practices in that
particular catchment.

Keywords: RUSLE, Sediment Yield, Soil Erosion, GIS, Various Thematic Maps.

I. INTRODUCTION

One of the most important natural sources on surface of earth is known as Soil. In modern times soil
erosion becomes very critical environmental issue which causes severe range of land degradation. Soil erosion
caused by deterioration process of soil by which occurred due to the physical movement of soil particles on land
surface. Another major reason for soil erosion is wind, water, ice, animals, and human interferences with
environment are usually the main sources for soil erosion. Government of India has also arranged many
programs and one of them which have the major objectives is how to control soil erosion and the name of
program is Catchment Area Treatment (CAT). The CAT program gets arranged at a same time with water
resources projects. Hence, there is become necessary to identify area affected by soil erosion.

The use of Geographic Information System (GIS) to compute soil losses became common in the last
two decades. GIS provides a fast and efficient means of generating the input data required for these models. The
use of Geographical Information System (GIS) methodology is well suited for the quantification of
heterogeneity in the topographic and drainage features of a catchment. The objectives of this research were to
use GIS for the discretization of the catchments into small grid cells and for the computation of such physical
characteristics of these cells as slope, land use and soil type, all of which affect the processes of soil erosion and
deposition in the different sub-areas of a catchment. Nowadays soil erosion and deposition are worldwide
problems and not restricted to India. But for purpose of sustainable development it is necessary to understand
and solve the problem related to soil erosion. For that precautions should be taken by upstream sediment traps
should be constructed and by developing effective methods for purpose of sediment routing and removal of
trapped sediment from existing reservoirs.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:888

JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

Contour farming and planting practices should be adopted along slope of a hill and following the natural
contours of the land. Wind break should be planned for controlling Wind erosion. A windbreak may be
constructed in form of row of trees, bushes etc. Deforestation of land should be prevented and adopting best
practice for purpose of Afforestation. Another method for preventing soil erosion known as “Terrafix”. It is an
element which is environmentally acceptable.

To evaluate soil erosion in sustainable and effective manner some management strategies are adopted at
local, regional and national level under influence of different types of activities. Different countries use different
strategies and methods to manage the risk of erosion and numerous evaluation methodologies across different
countries. Some soil erosion models used at regional level analysis work are as USLE / RUSLE, WEPP,
SEMMED, ANSWERS, EUROSEM, SWAT, SWRRB, etc., each with their own unique characteristics and
application for reducing the risk due to erosion. Globally, the superior model applied for prediction of soil
loss is USLE / RUSLE. According to Wischmeier and Smith, data were collected for estimating soil erosion of
8,000 communities of 36 regions located in 21 states in USA. Analysis and evaluation of various important
factors of soil erosion was carried out. And by concluding it they have been introduced the Universal Soil Loss
Equation (USLE) to assess soil erosion occur due to water. Generally, USLE model used to predict the value of
the mean annual soil erosion on a field slope based on some soil erosion factors such as rainfall pattern, soil
type, topography, crop system, and management practices. By incorporating additional data and research in this
field, the results show that the USLE methodology is enhanced and a latest revised version of USLE model
known as RUSLE model. Complex spatial information can easily identified with help of recent developments in
GIS techniques.

II. OBJECTIVES OF PRESENT STUDY

The open Source Tool SAGA GIS 6.3.2 (System for Automated Geo-scientific Analysis) was used to
fulfil following objectives: To adopt the integrated analysis of spatial data by using and Revised Universal Soil
Loss Equation (RUSLE) approaches along with remote sensing and GIS techniques in the assessment and
estimating annual soil loss , sediment delivery ratio , sediment yield .To detect the soil erosion prone area from
the analysis and also from the soil erosion map of the study area and its extent in detail. To estimation of
Sediment Yield and soil loss of Narmada middle basin watershed no. 63 lying in Narmada district in Gujarat
and Nan durbar districts in Maharashtra, India Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques.

III. STUDY AREA

The hydrological site selected for present study is the catchments of Narmada middle basin watershed
no: 63 (21° 49' 49.818'' N; 73° 44' 54.6756'' E) in Gujarat and (21° 54' 24.0876'' N; 74° 1' 23.1204'' E) in
Maharashtra, India. The total area drained by the river is being 690 km2. Watershed code: NRDM077. Nature of
stream is Katarinadi and Khatnadi. The study area falls under Survey of India (SOI) Toposheet numbers 46A,
G. Gujarat and Maharashtra area major sharing states for this watershed. Narmada river having 3 sub-basins (1)
Upper basin (2) middle basin (3) lower basin. Watershed no: 63 is part of middle basin and is locatedNarmada
district of Gujarat and Nan durbar district of Maharashtra.

In this study, value of soil Erosion estimated using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)
method and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) method by dividing the watershed in sub watershed level or
micro watershed level.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:889

JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

Middle Narmada river basin having totalled 63 watersheds and watershed – 63 has two sub watersheds
as given below in Figure. Sub watershed -1 having area 205 km2. Sub watershed – 1 which lies on upper side
having rain gauge station Khasra . Sub watershed- 2 having area of 516.17 km2 .Sub watershed – 2 which lies on
lower side having rain gauge between Sankali and Piplod.

Fig.1 Location plan of study area

IV. METHODOLOGY

Every model having its unique characteristics and application in different field. Because of models
convenience in application and compatibility with GIS these models such as Universal Soil Loss Equation
(USLE), Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation ( RUSLE), RUSLE model 2 and RUSLE model 3D, Modified
Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) has been widely used for spatial prediction of soil loss and to know risk
potential of erosion. The superior model applied all over the world to predict the soil loss is as Universal Soil
Loss Equation or Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE or RUSLE). This equation is a function of five
input factors in raster data format. These factors get vary over space and time. The DEM were mosaicked and
watershed boundary was delineated from Shutter Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data of 30 meters
resolution, which is freely available and downloaded from http://www.earthexplorer.usgs.gov, using SAGA
software. Additionally, Co-ordinates transformation is required before using DEM (Digital Elevation Model) or
any of the bands to the projected coordinate system consider as Kalianpur 1975/ India zone lla to make all grids
and shape in one projected zone of India.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:890

 JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

And this data was subsequently utilized for creation of the drainage network which is created manually
by digitizing drainage lines and overlaid on DEM in SAGA GIS or by creating flow accumulation map in SAGA
GIS and these digitized drainage lines overlaid on DEM in SAGA GIS. With help of Google earth pro standard
visual image interpretation method was carry out to recognize the elements such as texture of soil, size, shape,
pattern, soil conservation practice and field knowledge was followed. Land use / land cover categories such as
agriculture land, dense forest, open forest, open scrub, settlement, stone quarry, exposed rock, waste land and
water body, etc. were delineated on the basis of image interpretation or unsupervised classification from SAGA
GIS. Apart from that digitization, editing in topology of building also achieved from SAGA GIS.
The RUSLE model calculates potential average annual soil loss (A) as follows:

Soil loss (A) = R - factor * K – factor * L – factor * S – factor * C – factor * P -factor

Where,
A represents the average annual soil loss, measured on yearly basis (t / ha - 1 / y-1)
R – Factor the rainfall and runofferosivity factor (MJ mm / ha – 1 / h – 1 / y – 1)
K – factor the soil erodbility factor.( t / ha / h / ha - 1 / MJ-1 mm -1)
L – factor slope length factor (Dimentionless)
S – factor is known as the slope steepness factor (Dimensionless)
C – factor is known as the crop cover management factor (Dimensionless)
P – factor is known as the soil conservation practices factor (Dimensionless).

A. (RUSLE approach)
1)Rainfall Erosivity (R - factor) estimation: According to Wischmeier and Smith (1959) one hundredth of the
product of kinetic energy of the storm (E) and the 30-minutes intensity (I30) which both are expressed as
EI30 is the most genuine single estimate to find rainfall erosion potential. The Annual total of storm EI value is
the rainfall erosion-index. Based on the study of Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) and Burkina Faso regions,
Rooseevolved that the mean annual EI30 values can be approximated by the total mean annual rainfall (mm)
multiplied by 50. So he suggested the following formula for computation of R factor for RUSLE model. He has
used 0.5 as the general constant for multiplying the mean annual rainfall.

R = P * 0.5
2) Soil Erodibilityfactor (K - factor) estimation:The value of K factor is mainly varies between 0 to 1, where
0 is for least susceptibility or sensitivity of soil for erosion and 1 represents High soil susceptibility or soil
sensitivity to get erode erosion by the water.
Table I
The values of Different SoilErodibility Factor (K – factor) for Different Textures
Texture Class Organic Matter Content (%)
0.5% 2% 4%
Fine sand 0.16 0.14 0.1
Very fine sand 0.42 0.36 0.28
Loamy sand 0.12 0.1 0.08
Loamy very fine sand 0.44 0.38 0.3
Sandy loam 0.27 0.24 0.19
Very fine sandy loam 0.47 0.41 0.33
Silt loam 0.48 0.42 0.33
Clay loam 0.28 0.25 0.21
Silt clay loam 0.37 0.32 0.26
Silty clay 0.25 0.23 0.19
.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:891

 JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

3)Slope Length (L) and Steepness (S) Factor (LS - factor) estimation: L and S factors GIS-based
methods : The present study has been carry out to evaluate the soil loss from a riverine alluvial zone in the
Western Deccan, India, using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation. GIS-based methods for calculating the L
and S factors can be found in SAGA GIS in which LS- Factor tool is used and this value derived from
explanations and methods suggested by Moore et all (1991).

4) Crop Management Factor (C - factor) estimation: The C value is mainly dependent on the surface cover,
vegetation canopy (crop), surface roughness and soil moisture. The NDVI was generated from satellite images
(Landsat-8 ETM+) and the cell size was set at 100 × 100 m2 (scale 1:100000). The NDVIvalue was estimated by
the following equation:
−
=
+

Since the original C-factor of RUSLE ranges from 0 (full cover) to 1 (bare land) and the NDVI values range
from 1 (full cover) to 0 (bare land), the calculated NDVIvalues were achieved using “Vegetation Index (Slope
Based)” tool of “SAGA GIS 6.3” software package. More specifically
= exp (− × )
−
Where, parameter α is unit less and β also unit less. And these parameters becomes helpful to show the shape
of the curve form between NDVI values and the C factor values.

5) Soil conservation practices factor (P - factor) estimation: The soil conservation practice P-factor value can
have utilized to comprehension the conservation practices. In contrast, Wischmeier and Smith gave the P-factor
value by taking into consideration the combination of the conservation practice at particular site and also the
value of slope and general land use land cover type. Wischmeier and Smith thus computed the soil conservation
practice P-factor value by group the land in to agricultural land (cultivated land) and other major land types of
land use (Table 5.3).

Table II
P- Factor value for different support practices
Support Practice P – factor
Up and Down slope 1.00
Cross slope 0.75
Contour farming 0.50
Strip cropping, cross slope 0.37
Strip cropping , contour 0.25

6) Method of calculating Soil erosion (A): To find soil erosion all the factors used in RUSLE model that are
R – factor, K – factor ,L – factor , S – factor, C – factor P – factor were multiplied using the empirical formula
as shown below and soil erosion was mapped. The RUSLE model calculates potential average annual soil loss
(A) as follows:

Annual soil loss A = R - factor * K - factor * L - factor * S - factor * C - factor * P – factor

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:892

 JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

Table III
Different soil erosion class groups
Sr. No. Soil Erosion class group Soil Erosion range
- (ton / ha / year)
1 Slight 0–5
2 Moderate 5 – 10
3 High 10 – 20
4 Very High 20 – 40
5 Severe 40 – 80
6 Very Severe >80

7) Sediment delivery ratio (SDR) estimation:In a catchment, part of the soil eroded in an overland region
deposits within the catchment before reaching its outlet. The ratio of sediment yield (SY) to total surface erosion
(A) is termed the Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR).
SDR=1.29+1.37 ln Rc-0.025 ln A
Where, A=Basin area (km2),
Rc = Gully density (Total length of gully measured on topographic map of scale 1:100000 divided by area of
watershed, km/km2) orRc = Total length of stream of all order/ area of watershed (km/km2 )

8) Sediment yield calculation (SY) : The ratio of sediment delivered at a given catchment area in the stream
system to the gross soil erosion is the sediment delivery ratio for that drainage area. Thus, the annual sediment
yield of a watershed is defined as follows:
SY = (A) (SDR)

9) Estimation of soil erosion and sediment yield using GIS : Identification of sediment source areas to
detect the source areas for sediments reaching the outlet from within each catchment. Through such overlaying
areas producing large sediment amounts in the catchments have been identified. In SAGA GIS, MMF Model
(Morgana-Morgana–Finney Model) is used to identify the area where maximum chances of erosion were
occurred. One of the most important thing is that the areas which contributing more sediment. First priority
should be given to such areas for the introducing controlling measures for soil erosion for those areas.

V. RESULT AND ANALYSIS

A. RUSLE approach
Table IV
Soil loss and Sediment Yield in watershed - 63
R- K- LS- C- P- Soil Sediment
Sr No Year
Factor Factor Factor Factor Factor Loss Yield (SY)
SW 1 714.61 0.25 3.17 0.25 0.25 21.23 8.707385
SW 2 2004- 898.226 0.25 3.53 0.06 0.25 11.89 4.637207
Watershed - 2013
0 0 0 0 0 33.13 13.34459
63

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:893

 JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

B. By RUSLEapproach :As As shown in above Table , the average annual soil loss rate was analysed and it
achieved as 33.1278 tons/ha /year , which includes 21.2375 tons/ ha /year from sub watershed – 1 and
11.8902 tons/ ha /year from sub watershed – 2.And sediment yield was found about 13.3445 tons/year in the
watershed- 63. Which includes 8.7073 tons /year from sub watershed – 1 and 4.6372 tons /year from sub
watershed – 2.

VI. CONCLUSIONS

To conclude all this, the spatial distribution pattern of the soil erosion in the Narmada River Middle Basin
watershed – 63 is achieved, the analysis of the relationship between Soil loss and Year indicated that mean soil
loss from year 2003 to 2014 is 33.1278 tons/ ha /year by RUSLE approach and are in the range of (20 – 40
tons/ ha /year) which comes under very high erosion class group. The reason for erosion is the morphometric
parameters responsible for soil erosion and sediment yield in Watershed – 63 of Middle Narmada river basin are
homogeneity in texture of basin as well as lack of structural control oror moderate structural control and also
drainage system less influenced by structural disturbances. The gradient is initially flatter and then it becomes
steeper as the stream order increases. Some areas of the basin are characterized by variation in lithol
lithology and
topography and elongated basin with lower / flatter peak flows / discharge of longer duration. The basin
having moderate relief and structural complexity of the terrain. In addition to this the basin having highly
permeable subsoil and vegetativeve cover and homogenous geologic materials and area has old topography. Due
to this reasons watershed – 63 leads to moderately high and severe soil erosion effect and this will ultimately
affect the life of dam.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I feel glad to offer my sincerest

erest gratitude and respect to god as well as my parents for their invaluable advice,
and guidance from the foundational stage of this research and providing me extraordinary experiences
throughout the work.II am immensely obliged to them for their elevating
elevating inspiration, encouraging guidance and
kind supervision in the completion of my project. The door to their office was always open whenever I ran into
a trouble spot or had a question about my research.

REFRENCES

[1] Carvalho D.F., Durigon V.L. , Antunes M.A.H., Almeida W.S. and Oliveira P.T.S. (2014), “ Predicting soil erosion
using RUSLE and NDVI time series from TM Landsat 5”, Pesq. agropec. bras., Brasília, v.49, n.3, p.215 p.215-224, mar. 2014,
DOI: 10.1590/S0100-204X2014000300008.
204X2014000300008.
[2] Dubey S.K.,
K., Sharma D., MundetiaN.(2015), “Morphometric Analysis of the Banas River Basin Using the Geographical
Information System, Rajasthan, India”, Hydrology 2015; 3(5): 47-54.
47
[3] Gitas I. Z. ,Douros K. , Minakou C., Silleos G.N. and Karydas C.G. (2009),
(2009 “Multi-temporal
temporal soil erosion risk assessment in
N. Chalkidiki using a modified USLE raster model”, EARSeLeProceedings 8, 1/2009.
[4] Horvat Z. (2013) , ” Using Landsat Satellite Imagery to Determine Land Use/Land Cover Changes in Međimurje County,
Croatia”,, HrvatskiGeografskiGlasnik 75/2, 5 – 28(2013).
[5] Jain M.K. ,Kothyari U.C. (2000) ,“Estimation
Estimation of soil erosion and sediment yield using GIS “, Hydrological Sciences
Sciences-]ournal-des
Sciences Hydrologiques, 45(5) October 2000.
[6] Javed A., TanzeelK. ,Aleem M. (2016), “ Estimation of Sediment Yield of Govindsagar Catchment, Lalitpur District, (U.P.),
India, Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques” Journal of Geographic Information System, 2016, 8, 595 595-607.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:894

 JASC: Journal of Applied Science and Computations ISSN NO: 1076-5131

[7] Joshi V. ,Susware N., Sinha D.(2016),” Estimating soil loss from a watershed in Western Deccan, India, using Revised
Universal Soil Loss Equation”, Landscape & Environment 10 (1) 2016. 13-25.
[8] Pancholi V.H., LodhaP.P. , Prakash I. (2015) , “Estimation of Runoff and Soil Erosion for Vishwamitri River Watershed,
Western India Using RS and GIS”, American Journal of Water Science and Engineering 2015; 1(2): 7-14.
[9] Prasannakumar V., VijithH. ,Abinod S., Geetha N. (2012), “ Estimation of soil erosion risk within a small mountainous
sub-watershed in Kerala, India, using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and geo-information technology”,
Geoscience Frontiers 3(2) (2012) 209e215.
[10] RahamanS.A. ,Aruchamy S. , Jegankumar R., Ajeez S.A.(2015), “Estimation of annual average soil loss, based on
RUSLE model in Kallar watershed, Bhavani basin, Tamil nadu, India” ,ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing
and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume II-2/W2, 2015.
[11] SreenivasuluV. ,Pinnamaneni U.B. (2008), “Sediment yield estimation and prioritization of watershed using remote sensing and
gis” , International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences, Volume XXXIX-B8,
2012.
[12] Uddin K., Murthy M.S.R., Wahid S.M., Matin M.A. (2016),” Estimation of Soil Erosion Dynamics in the Koshi Basin
Using GIS and Remote Sensing to Assess Priority Areas for Conservation”, PLoS ONE 11(3): e0150494.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0150494.

Volume 5, Issue 9, September/2018 Page No:895