Characteristics of Soil that Affect the Erosion of Reclamation Impoundments

Ethan Wimer*, Brady Watters, and Leslie Hopkinson
Benjamin M. Statler Colleges of Engineering, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26506

Presentation No.: 125

Assigned Category (Presentation Format): Agricultural & Environmental Sciences (Poster Presentations)

Student’s Major: Civil Engineering

This research’s goal is to find what characteristics of soil have the greatest impact on how fast a hill or hillslope erodes. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) is a program that allows the user to recreate hillslopes and then simulate the erosion of that hillslope over time with its given characteristics. Using WEPP, the desired hillslope was modeled with 2.4, 4 and 5 percent slopes and then put through a series of 100 simulated storms. For better accuracy, varied versions of each of the hillslopes were used. WEPP showed that the percent composition of sand, the rill erodibility and the effective hydraulic conductivity of the hillslope had the greatest effect on soil loss. Results of this project will have implications for reclamation practices.

Funding:

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU SURE