Modeling sediment yields from agricultural watersheds

TLDR: In this article, a distributed parameter model, ANSWERS (Areal Nonpoint Source Watershed Environment Response Simulation), was used to estimate sediment yields in a 714-hectare (1,765-acre) agricultural watershed in Indiana.

Abstract: Accurate, comprehensive watershed models are among the most effective tools available to planners and researchers in water resources and water quality. Of the two basic types of models, the distributed parameter model has the potential for greater accuracy and output in estimating sediment yields than the lumped parameter model. One distributed parameter model, ANSWERS (Areal Nonpoint Source Watershed Environment Response Simulation), illustrates this potential in its applicaton to a 714-hectare (1,765-acre) agricultural watershed in Indiana, which was subjected to an actual precipitation event and treated with several alternative management schemes.