Characterization of Sediment Yield Behaviour from a Micro Catchment Area of a Farm Pond for Storm Wise Runoff Events in North-Eastern Dry Zone of Karnataka, India

Abstract

Aims: The study aims to measure the runoff event wise sediment yield for a micro catchment area of the farm pond and characterise its behaviour
 Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted in a micro catchment (field sized area) of a dugout farm pond, having an area of 6 ha located in the new area of UAS campus Raichur, which comes under Zone II in Region-I of Karnataka state. Geographically it is located at 16° 12′ N latitude and 77° 20′ E longitude and at an elevation of 389 m above the mean sea level (MSL). The study was conducted for a period of one year during 2019.
 Methodology: The existing farm pond was used to conduct sediment yield studies in a micro catchment area. The rainfall intensity for each storm has been measured using self-recording rain gauge. The runoff has been measured at the out let of the field sized micro catchment area of farm pond using hydraulic structures coupled with automatic runoff recorder. The runoff sampling has been done for sediment/ soil loss assessment. The event wise rainfall, rainfall intensity and runoff followed by sediment yield have been have been measured and analysed to see the relationship between rainfall intensity and runoff with prevailing soil and topographical characteristics of the study area.
 Results: The event wise runoff samples of the micro catchment area during the runoff events were collected from the stilling well coupled with hydraulic structure constructed at the outlet of the micro catchment area. As rainfall intensity increases it causes the water loss and surface soil erosion and increases sediment yield at the surface.
 Conclusion: In the present study the red gram crop was grown and it had affected the sediment yield especially during September and October months. Rainfall is most dynamic factor which affects the sediment yield.