Sediment Yield in Dam-Controlled Watersheds in the Pisha Sandstone Region on the Northern Loess Plateau, China

Soil erosion has become the dominant environmental issue endangering sustainable development in agriculture and ecosystem on Loess Plateau. Determination of watershed soil rates sediment yields is essential for reasonable utilization water resources loss control. In this study, we employed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) structure-from-motion (SfM) photogrammetry to determine 24 dam-controlled watersheds Pisha sandstone region northern High differences total were trapped before check dams due their running periods yields. The estimated specific yield ranged from 34.32 t/(ha?a) 123.80 with an average 63.55 t/(ha?a), which indicated that had intense rate. Furthermore, modified Sediment Distributed Delivery (SEDD) model was applied identify erosion-prone areas watersheds, retained used calibration. performance acceptable, modeling results steep major source accounting approximately 87.37% yield. Catchment area, erosive precipitation, badland proportion key factors region, according multiple regression analyses. These findings SEDD very efficient identifying spatial heterogeneities but requires comprehensive calibration validation long-term observations. still area control Plateau, needs more attention conservation high