Seasonal controls on sediment delivery in a small coastal plain watershed, North Carolina, USA

Abstract

Field measurements of drainage ditch sedimentation and suspended sediment transport were used to construct a simple sediment budget and relate seasonal variations in vegetation and the hydrological characteristics of storms to sediment dynamics in a small agricultural watershed in North Carolina. Results indicate that seasonal variations in crop coverage and vegetation in drainage ditches influence sediment delivery. Following the harvesting of crops and mowing of drainage ditches in late autumn, conditions are favorable to soil erosion and sediment transport through early spring. Storms need not be very intense or produce large rainfall totals to transport significant sediment loads. The maturation of field crops and ditch vegetation in spring produces conditions less conducive to both soil erosion and sediment transport. Intense summer thunderstorms, however, are capable of mobilizing and transporting significant amounts of sediment. The computed sediment yield of 0.1 Mg/ha/yr probably represents a low estimate that, nevertheless, is an order of magnitude less than measured ditch storage and more than two orders of magnitude less than regional estimates of soil loss on Coastal Plain croplands. The results show that headwater ditches may be decoupled from slopes so that much of the eroded soil is stored within small watersheds rather than being transported out of the basin.