Document Type : Research Paper
Authors
1 a
2 associate professor
Abstract
Land cover is also important factor for protecting the soil against erosion. A fully forested watershed experiences relatively little surface erosion, but timber harvest alters the canopy cover, exposing the soil to water and wind. Forests provide the maximum amount of soil protection. Reduction of vegetative cover by forest harvesting generally increases the average surface runoff volume and sediment While, the hydrologic response of forest harvesting has been rarely considered. Towards this attempt, the present study has been conducted to investigate the effect of vegetation cover on hydrological components in plot scale (2m*1m) with four replicates in tow slope scale (0-20%, 20-40%) in Kheyrud Forest of Iran during December 2014 until December 2015. The rain depth was measured by using a rain gauge installed in the study area. The runoff volume and sediment yield were also measured through field data collection and lab analyses by weighting and decantation methods. The results of the study showed significant effects of vegetation cover (P ≤0.01) on runoff volume and sediment yield. Natural forest without harvesting, forest with selective harvesting treatments exhibited the lowest amounts of runoff and sediments, with averages of 372.31, 878.96 cc, and 0.08, 0.17 gr m-2 respectively, in comparison to other treatments. Linear regression among mentioned parameters (precipitation, runoff, and sediment) were determined. The results show that there were significant correlation and linear regression among precipitation, runoff and sediment.
Keywords
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