Catena 167 (2018) 221–227

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Catena
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/catena

Analysis of sediment rating loops and particle size distributions to T

characterize sediment source at mid-sized plot scale
⁎
Seyed Hamidreza Sadeghia, , Vijay P. Singhb, Mahboobeh Kiani-Harchegania, Hossein Asadic
a
Department of Watershed Management Engineering, Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University, Noor 46417-76489, Iran
b
Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering & Zachry Department of Civil Engineering, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843-2117, USA
c
Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Tehran, Karaj, Iran

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Estimates of spatio-temporal variations of sediment concentration with discharge are needed for the assessment
Contributing area of aquatic ecosystems, estimates of contaminant export from catchments. The relationship between discharge
Erosion control and sediment concentration is available for different watersheds. However, elucidating flow discharge-soil loss-
Sediment availability contribution area relationships under simulated controlled conditions has not been adequately considered for
Sediment hysteresis
better understanding of soil erosion processes. The objective of this study therefore is to employ sediment rating
Sediment graph
loops and PSD to characterize erosion source contribution of a mid-sized plot subjected to different input driving
forces of slope steepness (S = 5 to 25%) and rainfall intensity (I = 30 to 90 mm h−1). A cause-and-effect con-
ceptual approach was employed for investigating erosion by individual storm events. Results of the study
showed that the interrelationships among variables varied as erosion processes developed owing to increasing
slope or rainfall intensity. The sediment rating mainly followed downward linear or semi clockwise hysteretic
loops except for slopes of 15 and 25%, and rainfall intensity of 30 mm h−1. It was further found that the high
rainfall intensity event under steep slope had limited contributing area and more contribution of coarse particles
with lesser coefficient of variation. Understanding the relationships among runoff, sediment and PSD can greatly
improve our understanding of sediment transport mechanisms and the contributing areas that facilitate better
soil erosion modeling leading to proper planning of soil and water management measures.

1. Introduction
Water erosion of soil is a serious environmental problem in the
world which threatens the future sustainable development. In this
pursuit, proper understanding soil erosion processes are of crucial im-
portance (Silva et al., 2015; Tian et al., 2017). In this regard, accurate
estimation of sediment yield and sediment graph are needed for the
design of impoundments and erosion control structures, river mor-
phological computations, management of ecosystems, and evaluation of
the effects of various land use management practices (Sun et al., 2016;
Zhang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2017).
Monitoring of sediment concentration and particle size distribution
(PSD) is important for improved understanding, modeling and man-
agement of sediment-related processes in natural aquatic systems, such
as rivers, lakes, estuaries and seas, and at hydraulic schemes for hy-
dropower, irrigation, flood protection and even tracing the fate of
chemicals (Young, 1980; Walling and Moorehead, 1989; Parsons et al.,
1991; Slattery and Burt, 1997; Thompson et al., 2016; Jomaa et al.,
2017; Sadeghi et al., 2017). In this regard, the transport of sediment by
runoff and its potential for subsequent deposition depend on its size
distribution (Proffitt and Rose, 1991). Therefore, knowledge of the
processes involved in the generation, transport and deposition of sedi-
ments, is clearly of fundamental importance to understand the asso-
ciated changes in the sediments PSD during erosion phenomenon
(Kiani-Harchegani et al., 2018). The size characteristics of eroded se-
diment can also be expected to vary, depending on which erosion
process is predominant. Walling et al. (2000) and Williams et al. (2007)
demonstrated that the particle size characteristics of sediments were of
fundamental importance in understanding their role in a variety of
environmental processes, such as contaminant transport. Some studies
(e.g., Williams et al., 2007; Asadi et al., 2011; Sadeghi and Kiani-
Harchegani, 2012; Shi et al., 2012; Wang and Shi, 2015; Sadeghi et al.,
2017) have investigated sediment PSD of suspended sediment and
verified the selective size distribution of the eroded particles through
different soil erosion stages due to selectivity in entrainment or trans-
port mechanisms. Pieri et al. (2009) analyzed runoff water, sediment
yield and sediment mean diameter as a function of land cover, rainfall
kinetic energy and stream power at experimental plots installed in the

⁎
Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: sadeghi@modares.ac.ir (S.H. Sadeghi), vsingh@tamu.edu (V.P. Singh), m.kiani@modares.ac.ir (M. Kiani-Harchegani), ho.asadi@ut.ac.ir (H. Asadi).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.catena.2018.05.002
Received 11 August 2017; Received in revised form 4 April 2018; Accepted 5 May 2018
0341-8162/ © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
S.H. Sadeghi et al.
Apennines mountain range, northern Italy. Thompson et al. (2016)
developed a model considering event-specific and site-specific factors
and total suspended sediment particle size distribution, based on the
data collected from laboratory small scale experiments using rainfall
simulation on fourteen different soils from active construction sites and
surface mining operations in Canada. Sadeghi et al. (2017) reported
that PSD of the splashed sediment significantly varied depending on
rainfall intensity, slope steepness and upward/downward direction of
the splash cups.
Sediment concentration is controlled by the interaction among the
processes of flow generation, transport capacity, sediment delivery
from external sources, and the amount of fine sediment mobilized from
internal sources varying over a wide range of temporal and spatial
scales (e.g., Gomi et al., 2005; Perks et al., 2015; Thompson et al., 2016;
Zhao et al., 2017). The variability of these processes is associated with
the variability of precipitation characteristics, the connectivity of se-
diment sources, changes in contributing areas, and hydraulic boundary
conditions (e.g., Nadal-Romero et al., 2008; Liu and Fu, 2016; Gran and
Czuba, 2017). The above considerations indicated that sediment gen-
eration and transportation is a complex process, being influenced by
many factors and has very important role for soil erosion research.
Many experiments have been performed in plot scale to control factors
affecting on fluvial behavior. Additionally, several studies (e.g., Jomaa
et al., 2017; Asadi et al., 2011; Shi et al., 2012; Wang and Shi, 2015;
Vilayvong et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2016; Gran and Czuba, 2017; Kiani-
Harchegani et al., 2018) investigated relationships between generation
and transport of sediment with its PSD under different conditions. Many
researches (e.g., Nadal-Romero et al., 2008; Saeidi et al., 2016) have
focused on the relationship between sediment graphs (SGs) and hy-
drographs (HGs) at the watershed scale. The sediment rating loops
(SRLs) between suspended sediment concentration and water discharge
have also been developed (e.g., Nistor and Church, 2005; Gao and
Pasternack, 2007; Fan et al., 2012; Gellis, 2013; Sun et al., 2016) to
provide information on sediment yield processes. However, measure-
ment of soil erosion and sediment characteristics associated with rain
and soil conditions is tedious in practice and measurement data are
therefore limited (Vilayvong et al., 2016). Cheraghi et al. (2016) in-
vestigated the hysteresis loop patterns of different sediment PSD versus
discharge for time-varying precipitation rates from a 5 m × 2 m erosion
plot. For an initially dry and ploughed soil, clockwise hysteresis loops in
SG versus HG were generated for the total sediment concentration and
finest PSD. In contrast, for the larger PSD, the hysteresis loops are
narrower and have a more irregular shape.
The above discussion suggests that fluvial behavior of a watershed is
complex and its proper study requires an appropriate experimental
setup (Iserloh et al., 2013; Lassu et al., 2015; Gran and Czuba, 2017). Of
fundamental importance are the processes of generation, transport, sink
and sources, and sediment particle size distribution for unraveling soil
erosion-related issues at different spatio-temporal scales. Considering
the literature on SG and HG, and sediment PSD at the watershed scale,
it seems that few studies have been conducted to comprehensively as-
sess the HG, SG, sediment PSD and specifically SRLs in different slopes
and rainfall intensities at the plot scale. The present study, therefore,
employs SRLs and PSD to characterize erosion source contribution at
mid-sized plot scale. This indoor study was conducted at plot scale in
order to control the influencing factors and to monitor the processes
(Malam Issa et al., 2006; Pieri et al., 2009; Vilayvong et al., 2016).
Studying flow discharge-soil loss-contribution area relationships under
simulated controlled conditions can help modelers and even decision
makers consider scale dependency of soil erosion processes leading to
better conceptualization and formulation of the rainfall-runoff-sedi-
ment characteristics relationships. Results of the study may constitute a
basis for characterizing the fluvial behavior of a watershed pertaining
to the physical properties of soil, rain and runoff that may lead to ap-
propriate conceptual ion and modeling.
222
Catena 167 (2018) 221–227
2. Material and methods
2.1. Experimental setup
Laboratory experiments, comprising a three-plot set of 6 m2-mid-
sized plots with dimensions of 6 (length) × 1 (width) × 0.5 (depth) m,
were conducted in the Rainfall Simulation and Soil Erosion Laboratory
of Faculty of Natural Resources, Tarbiat Modares University. Soil used
in the experimental set-up was obtained from the Kojour Watershed in
the degrading Hyrcanian Region of northern Iran. This silt loam soil
collected from the top 20 cm of surface layer with respective bulk
density, pH, electrical conductivity (EC), organic matter content and
mean weight diameter (dry) of 1.46 g cm−3, 7.65, 0.76 dS m−1, 2.61%
and 1.38 mm (Kiani-Harchegani et al., 2018). The soil was appro-
priately placed in the plots as per procedures followed by Kiani-
Harchegani et al. (2018). The soil moisture volumetric content was set
at about 12 ± 3%, similar to that reported for the soil in the research
area (Kiani-Harchegani et al., 2018).
A set of experiments was carried out to investigate soil loss and size
characteristics of sediment discharged under rainfall intensities (I) of
30, 60 and 90 mm h−1 with respective durations of 30, 15 and 10 min
extracted from the intensity-duration-frequency curves for a return
period of about 25 years which corresponded with watershed executive
projects of the Kojour meteorological station located in the vicinity of
the area (51°44′E; 36°24′N; elevation 1550 m above sea level) from
where the experimental soil was sampled. The rainfall water was fed by
a 4000 L-tank and 7 nozzles in line with the ability to simulate rain-
drops from 1.5 mm to 1.58 mm diameters for above the experimental
rainfall intensities which corresponded with the greatest number of
1–2 mm raindrops reported by Abdollahi et al. (2013) for the same area.
The slopes (S) of 5, 15 and 25% existing in the area were also con-
sidered for the experiments. All experiments were conducted with
complete combinations of slope and rainfall with three replicates, and
therefore a total 27 experiments were considered.
2.2. Measurements and analyses
In order to characterize the erosion source contribution, the inter-
relationships among HGs and SGs, and outflow sediment size char-
acteristics relating to soil erosion processes were analyzed at plot scale
(Asadi et al., 2011; Thompson et al., 2016). Water flow and suspended
sediment concentration were volumetrically measured at 1-min inter-
vals for each rainfall event at the outlet of plots for all experimental
runs. The sediment concentration (SC) was determined through set-
tling, decantation and oven drying at 105 °C (Kiani-Harchegani et al.,
2016). The number of samples of water runoff and sediment con-
centration varied from 22 to 25, 12 to 13 and 8 to 9 for the rainfall
intensity of 30, 60 and 90 mm h−1 in different replicates, respectively.
The corresponding HGs and SGs were then depicted on the same co-
ordinates. The SRLs were also developed, based on the relationship
between SC and runoff to help understand the temporal variation of
sediment hysteresis and recognize the temporal contribution of sedi-
ment in runoff (Lee and Yang, 2010; Megnounif et al., 2013) and also
elucidate the contributing areas (i.e., lower part or whole plot) of the
eroded soil reaching the plot outlet.
The soil and sediment samples were analyzed for PSD with the use
of a Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser diffraction device (Malvern
Instruments, 2004). The PSD data were determined without any dis-
persion treatment to allow for measuring the effective sediment PSD
(Walling et al., 2000; Martinez-Mena et al., 2002; Pieri et al., 2009).
The main characteristics of sediment and original soil were calculated
using the GRADISTAT software package (Blott and Pye, 2001). Si-
multaneously, the variability of average PSD of sediment for three re-
plicates from each treatment were analyzed in comparison with original
soil to determine the contribution of lower part of the plot with
S.H. Sadeghi et al. Catena 167 (2018) 221–227

Slope Steepness (%)

5 15 25

Q SC Q SC Q SC
50 25 50 25 50 25
40 20 40 20 40 20

Q (mm3l-1)
Q (mm3s-1)

Q (mm3s-1)
SC (gl-1)

SC (gl-1)
SC (gl-1)
30 15 30 15 30 15
20 10 20 10 20 10
10 5 10 5 10 5
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21 23 1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19 21
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

25 25 25
20 20 20

SC (g l-1)
SC (g l-1)

SC (g l-1)
15 15 15
10 10 10
5 5 5
0 0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50

Q (mm3s-1) Q (mm3s-1) Q (mm3s-1)

Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%)
100 100 100
80 80 80

60 60
PSD (%)

PSD (%)

60

PSD (%)
40 40 40

20 20 20

0 0 0
PS 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 PS 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 PS 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 1. Hydrographs and sediment graphs (top), sediment rating loops (center), and particle size distributions (PSDs) for sediment samples (bottom) obtained by laser
diffraction under different slopes and rainfall intensity of 30 mm h−1 (Q, SC and PSD denote flow discharge, sediment concentration and particle size distribution,
respectively).

concentrated runoff and higher sediment selectivity or the entire plot and 90 mm h−1, respectively. The coefficient of variations of runoff
with very shallow surface runoff (interrill erosion) and lower sediment generation during the measurement intervals slightly varied from 21.95
selectivity (Shi et al., 2012; Perks et al., 2015; Vilayvong et al., 2016). to 28.54%, 22.46 to 30.58% and 15.73 to 20.65% for rainfall intensities
The trend of variation in PSD during experimental runs was also taken of 30, 60 and 90 mm h−1, respectively. The higher variation in sedi-
into account to assess the availability and accessibility of the eroded ment data due to effect of more complicated factors has been reported
soil in the plot (Heckmann and Schwanghart, 2013; De Girolamo et al., by previous researchers (e.g., Sadeghi and Saeidi, 2010). Besides that,
2015; Liu and Fu, 2016). Graphs for each individual experimental set the SRL started as almost a gentle downward and an upward linear
were drawn at similar scale in order to better facilitate comparison of type, followed by a downward linear type and ultimately tended to a
the study variables among treatments. The general contribution areas smooth clockwise (positive) hysteresis loop. The entire process had
were also visually monitored and even substantiated by color tracer, taken place as a tradeoff between the impact of rainfall and flow on soil
and ultimately incorporated with HG, SG, sediment PSD and particu- erosion similar to a mechanism explained by Kinnell (2009). The
larly SRLs. comparatively steeper slope of runoff generation pertained to the initial
hydrophobicity of dry soil, and the sealing effects resulted from the
3. Results and discussion clogging of pores by fine detached materials which agreed with Sadeghi
et al. (2008) and Cheraghi et al. (2016). Results showed that in most of
To achieve the study objective, a soil with clay, silt and sand con- the experimental runs, the sediment peak occurred at the beginning of
tents 12.9, 52.8 and 34.3%; and D10, D50, D90, sorting, skewness and the experiment, following a downward linear or immature clockwise
Kurtosis of 1.24, 25.78, 262.37, 8.12, −0.14 and 0.92 μm, respectively, hysteretic loop caused by early sediment depletion (exhaustion effect).
was used for the study. The granulometric curve of the original soil was The initial gentle downward linear type (I = 30 mm h−1 and
accordingly found to be a smooth S-typed one. The results of HGs, SGs, S = 5%) of SRL showed a very slow reduction in low available amounts
SRLs and PSD of regularly collected sediment samples for each in- of sediment carried by runoff during the study incident. It showed that
dividual experimental run are summarized in Figs. 1 to 3. the only limited available surface soils mainly accessible during soil
preparation or low powered-splash could be carried out and no suffi-
3.1. SRLs analysis cient runoff power existed to skim off the soil surface. At this stage,
neither critical raindrop energy to detach nor critical flow shear stress
Results (Figs. 1 to 3) show that as slope steepness and rainfall in- to transport loose soil particles existed, whereas, in experiments with
tensity increased, runoff and sediment yield also increased. However, steeper slopes (i.e., 15 and 25%), the inclined plots facilitated further
the relationship between HGs and SGs in terms of quantity and time scraping of the soil by raindrops and led to more delivery of eroded
relevance varied, so that the coefficient of variation of sediment con- sediment to the outlet by the higher rate of runoff and therefore owing
centration during the sampling intervals varied from 11.3 to 18.16%, to raindrop impact induced erosion. A clockwise hysteresis due to the
12.14 to 33.31% and 16.71 to 55.09% for rainfall intensities of 30, 60 diminishing availability of sediment was expected, if the experiments

223
S.H. Sadeghi et al. Catena 167 (2018) 221–227

Slope Steepness (%)

5 15 25

Q SC Q SC Q SC
80 60 80 60 80 60
50 50 50
60 60 60
Q (mm3s-1)

Q (mm3s-1)

Q (mm3s-1)
40 40 40

SC (gl-1)

SC (gl-1)
SC (gl-1)
40 30 40 30 40 30
20 20 20
20 20 20
10 10
10
0 0 0 0
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

60 60 60
50 50 50
40 40 40

SC (g l-1)

SC (g l-1)
SC (g l-1)

30 30 30
20 20 20
10 10 10
0 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100

Q (mm3s-1) Q (mm3s-1)
Q (mm3s-1)

Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%)
100 100 100

80 80 80
PSD (%)

PSD (%)

PSD (%)
60 60 60

40 40 40

20 20 20

0 0 0
PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 2. Hydrographs and sediment graphs (top), sediment rating loops (center), and particle size distributions (PSDs) for sediment samples (bottom) obtained by laser
diffraction under different slopes and rainfall intensity of 60 mm h−1 (Q, SC and PSD denote flow discharge, sediment concentration and particle size distribution,
respectively).

could be practically extended. A similar concept was presented by intensity of 30 mm h−1 when the maximum raindrop detachment and
Kinnell (2009), Pieri et al. (2009) and Vilayvong et al. (2016). The splash transport occurred as reported by Sadeghi et al. (2017). It was
oscillations in SRLs could also be associated with the relative high observed that the only the smallest size particles from limited sources of
changes and even measurement accuracy in small quantities of sedi- available erodible soil detached due to splash erosion were transported
ment, as reported by Sadeghi and Saeidi (2010). by very thin and weak surface runoff to the plot outlet. A similar finding
The steeper downward linear type SLRs for I = 60 mm h−1 and was also reported by Kinnell (2009) when studying the mechanism of
slope steepness of 5, 15 and 25% compared to the former condition soil erosion due to the impact of rainfall and flow. Most of the varia-
(i.e., I = 30 mm h−1) could also be justified due to the sediment ex- tions were recorded for silt and sand contents. Hence, the sand contents
haustion resulting from the limited availability of erodible material to were amplified by a power with the order reaching a ratio of 0.93 for
be washed away by runoff. The rates and slopes of SRLs drastically the highest slope and intensity, while the silt contents linearly reduced
increased, as slope increased. It can be referred to the development of as rainfall intensified and slope increased. The change in the me-
raindrop impact induced erosion initially supported by runoff (Kinnell, chanism of soil erosion and the capability of raindrop and runoff to
2009; Pieri et al., 2009; Vilayvong et al., 2016). detach and transport the soil particles was found as the main reason
Likewise, the steeper downward linear and even tendency of SRLs to behind sediment selectivity. Similar findings have been reported by
smooth clockwise loops for I = 90 mm h−1 and slopes of 5, 15 and 25% Kinnell (2009), Pieri et al. (2009), Asadi et al. (2011), Shi et al. (2012),
in comparison with I = 30 and 60 mm h−1 verified further the im- Perks et al. (2015) and Vilayvong et al. (2016). Besides that, the mutual
provement of sediment transport by runoff during the early stages of effects of rainfall intensity and slope could compensate for each other
soil erosion evolution to concentrated runoff. The soil erosion process with more significant effect of slope on interrill soil erosion (Kiani-
then continued with an almost constant rate facilitated by raindrop Harchegani et al., 2018). The inter-variation of each size particles group
impact induced erosion. At this stage, the availability of eroded mate- also reduced, as study variables increased due to more persistent con-
rial during the experimental runs could control the rate of sediment ditions in the conditions governing the soil erosion processes through
contribution despite the capability of flow to detach and even transport improved runoff generation. In the more intensive rainfall events and
pre-detached soil particles (Kinnell, 2009). steeper slopes, runoff was the dominant agent to start and control soil
erosion and sediment yield. A similar observation was also made by
3.2. PSD-SRL relationship Kinnell (2009) and Pieri et al. (2009).
In order to support the research findings and implications, the
The particle size distribution of sediment discharged from the plots average velocities of runoff under different slopes and rainfall in-
during the experimental runs is depicted in Figs. 1 to 3. The averaged tensities are given in Table 1. It is seen, as previously oft-reported, that
textures of the original soil and eroded sediment are given in the texture the average velocity increased as rainfall intensity and slope steepness
triangle shown in Fig. 4. As seen from the results, the maximum amount increased. The increased coefficient variation of sand contents from
of clay with the ratio of 1.65 to 2.06 was washed out during the rainfall 43.54 to 57.83% at the early stages of soil erosion (I = 30 mm h−1) also

224
S.H. Sadeghi et al. Catena 167 (2018) 221–227

Slope Steepness (%)

5 15 25

Q SC Q SC Q SC
80 80 80
120 120 120
60 60 60
Q (mm3s-1)

Q (mm3s-1)

Q (mm3s-1)
90 90 90

SC (gl-1)

SC (gl-1)
SC (gl-1)
40 40 40
60 60 60
30 20 30 20 20
30
0 0 0 0 0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

80 80 80

60 60 60
SC (g l-1)

SC (g l-1)

SC (g l-1)
40 40 40

20 20 20

0 0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140
Q (mm3s-1) Q (mm3s-1) Q (mm3s-1)

Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%) Sand (%) Silt (%) Clay (%)
100 100 100
80 80 80
PSD (%)

PSD (%)

PSD (%)
60 60 60
40 40
40
20 20
20
0 0
0
PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
PS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time (min) Time (min) Time (min)

Fig. 3. Hydrographs and sediment graphs (top), sediment rating loops (center), and particle size distributions (PSDs) for sediment samples (bottom) obtained by laser
diffraction under different slopes and rainfall intensity of 90 mm h−1 (Q, SC and PSD denote flow discharge, sediment concentration and particle size distribution,
respectively).

Table 1
The mean runoff velocity (m s−1) under different slopes and rainfall intensities.
Rainfall intensity (mm h−1) Slope steepness (%)

5 15 25

Mean ± SD Mean ± SD Mean ± SD

30 0.12 ± 0.02 0.12 ± 0.03 0.13 ± 0.01

60 0.15 ± 0.01 0.16 ± 0.05 0.21 ± 0.01
90 0.17 ± 0.02 0.22 ± 0.05 0.19 ± 0.04

proved more complicated conditions govern raindrop detachment and

raindrop splash, and initial runoff induced transport mechanisms.

3.3. Sediment source

SILT LOAM The dominancy of linear-typed SRLs may be due to the small size of
study plots causing a fast response to simulated rainfall, as reported by
Williams (1989), Seeger et al. (2004), Sadeghi et al. (2008) and Perks
et al. (2015) in the case if a prompt response of small watersheds re-
Fig. 4. Original soil (solid blue triangle) and eroded soil texture for rainfall sulted in linear SRLs. It is also seen that the SRLs got steeper and shifted
intensity of 30 mm h−1 (blue squares), 60 mm h−1 (black circles) and to the upper right side of coordinates, as slope increased for each par-
90 mm h−1 (red triangles), and slope steepness of 5% (solid symbols), 15%
ticular rainfall intensity. The horizontal long axis for the experiments
(dotted symbols) and 25% (blank symbols) at laboratory scale. (For inter-
also verified the almost constant rate of reduction in the SC-flow ratios
pretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to
the web version of this article.)
during the incidents, as postulated by Sadeghi et al. (2008). It disagreed
with Williams (1989) who suggested that the directions or amounts of

225
S.H. Sadeghi et al.
skew in the temporal graphs did not affect the direction of the loop, its
shape, or the region in which it was plotted. The initial linear parts of
the SRLs can be attributed to the entire contribution of the plot at the
beginning of simulation runs, while the last downward tending parts of
the SRLs would be due to the further concentrated soil erosion in the
lower parts of the plots and in the vicinity of plot outlets. These dif-
ferences are due to inter-storm variability in detachment, transporta-
tion and deposition processes of eroded soil particles in plot area as
reported by Kiani-Harchegani et al. (2018). Based on the results of the
cause-and-effect analytical approach, this is the only reason which
could justify the behavior of SRLs, since other governing conditions like
rainfall intensity and distribution, soil conditions and even other types
of runoff rather than surface runoff were almost constant during each
set of experimental runs. A combination of sediment availability,
rainfall characteristics, soil water repellency, and contribution of dif-
ferent flow components was reported by Sadeghi et al. (2008) in con-
trolling the variations in event-wise sediment graphs and rating loops in
a very small steep watershed in Japan. These findings were anecdotally
monitored and even elucidated by color tracer in association with HG,
SG, sediment PSD and SRLs inter-relationships in the current research.
The governance of downward SRLs verified the dilution response of
runoff as a result of continuously increasing runoff and decreasing
available eroded materials, as reported by Butturini et al. (2008). In-
terestingly, it could also be shown that, based on the mean velocity of
runoff on the surface plot (from 0.12 to 0.22 m s−1), the only short
periods of some 27 to 50 s were needed to receive runoff from the entire
plot surface. It meant that the PSD of the first sediment sample only
reflected the sediment contribution from the whole plot washed out
during raindrop detachment and flow driven transport process, while
the PSDs of subsequent next other samples were a result of low flow
detachment and flow transport. A similar characterization was made by
Young (1980), Nadal-Romero et al. (2008), Kinnell (2009), Pieri et al.
(2009) and Vilayvong et al. (2016) under different circumstances. The
former stage mainly represented the splash and interrill erosion, while
the latter one was marked as interrill and initial rill erosion ultimately
leading to soil tendency to rill if necessary conditions were fulfilled. The
anecdotal evidence from observed concentrated flow traits or rills in the
lower part of the plots also suggested the variability of contribution of
different stages of soil erosion in the sediment yield. The maximum
comparative existence of silt sized sediment in the experimental runs of
low slope (i.e., 5% with enrichment ratios of silt contents of sediment to
original soil from 1.15 to 1.35) and intensities and increasing con-
tribution of sand sized sediments in the experiment runs of moderate
and high slopes (i.e., 15 and 25% with enrichment ratios of silt contents
of sediment to original soil from 1.02 to 1.38) also showed these
findings. The largest eroded size fraction of silt (2 to 50 μm) was re-
ported by Young (1980) and Pieri et al. (2009) for high silt soils. It
therefore showed the more persistent contribution of silt sized sediment
and gently sloping (horizontally extended) SRLs the more contributory
area was and vice versa. A similar conceptualization and consequent
simulation can therefore be made at watershed scale and taking time of
concentration into consideration.
4. Conclusions
The analyses of sediment loops and particle size distributions ver-
ified varying inter-relationships among runoff and sediment char-
acteristics at mid-sized plot scale, resulting in the sediment rating
mainly followed semi clockwise hysteretic loops except for low rainfall
intensity on high slopes. It also represents complex erosion processes at
the plot scale from the viewpoint of flow and sediment amount and
particle size distribution variations under different rainfall intensities
and slopes. The contributory area in sediment yield also depends on the
type and severity of soil erosion occurring on the plots as a tradeoff
among many specific driving-forces and experimental conditions.
Although investigating relationship among HGs, SGs, sediment PSD and
226
Catena 167 (2018) 221–227
SRLs at the watershed scale are not novel, the authors believe that it is
still often overlooked by most hydrologists, who are seldom considering
fluvial behaviors of a system in estimation of sediment yield. Therefore,
the proposed set of experiments at plot scale presented here will be an
essential tool for modeling soil erosion processes via better under-
standing of source and even simulation of behavior of the sediment
discharged from a watershed pertaining to different governing condi-
tions. Future works will extend these insights to other time and space
scales and include comprehensive models for supporting soil and water
conservation and ultimately better management of watersheds.
Acknowledgements
The present paper has been prepared during the sabbatical leave of
the corresponding author facilitated by Tarbiat Modares University in
Iran and Texas A&M University in USA whose valuable supports are
acknowledged. The lab works have been conducted at Rainfall
Simulation and Soil Erosion Laboratory at Natural Resources Faculty of
Tarbiat Modares University, Iran.
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