Kirpich and williams times of concentration in musle: A case study

Abstract

Water is one of the most vital requirements for sustenance of life. Water, along with soil, forms the combination of the most essential natural resource for economic and social development. A study of soil and water dynamics at a watershed level can facilitate a scientific approach to a conservation and management plan for them. The present study is an attempt to implement Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation (MUSLE) using Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) method for runoff estimation and comparison of soil loss results for the catchments of Baindur Hole and Yedamavina Hole in Udupi district of Karnataka state obtained by times of concentration calculated by the Kirpich equation and the Williams equation. Preparation of base map and thematic maps was carried out using IRS-1C, LISS-III image for LU/LC and from SOI toposheet in a GIS environment for overlaying and extraction of results. The time of concentration estimated by the Kirpich formula is lower in all cases; hence the corresponding soil loss is higher by 1.4 times in comparison to Williams' formula. The catchments 23 and 17 with a lower drainage length show comparatively higher values of soil loss in case of the Williams equation which can be attributed to the higher importance given to drainage length in the equation. 2011 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.