CLIMATE DYNAMICS AND SPATIO-TEMPORAL DISTRIBUTION OF SEDIMENTS IN THE ZOU RIVER WATERSHED AT DOME IN BENIN (WEST AFRICA)

Soil erosion is and remains one of the biggest environmental problems under current climatic conditions, threatening not only developed countries, but even more in developing countries. This study proposes to do modeling sediment production in the catchment of the River Zou in Benin related to the current climate. The methodological approach is based on rainfall statistics (empirical) monthly, seasonal and annual basin over the period from 1965 to 2010, and those projected for 2030. Similarly, the GIS tool and its coupling with agro-hydrological model SWAT have examined the effects of climate dynamics on sediment yield in the middle of study. It appears from the analysis of results obtained under the effect of climate fluctuations alone, the average annual sediment yield increased from 3.28 t / ha to 2.80 t / ha in the period 2025-2030 compared to 2000-2005 period, a decrease of 14.63%. Regarding the effect of the scenarios occupancy only soils the average annual sediment production has increased, compared to the occupation of reference soils (LU02) of 31.66%. As against the combined effects of climate fluctuations and dynamics of vegetation cover, it is observed a decrease in the average annual sediment yield of 4.20 t / ha to 3.17 t / ha between 2000-2005 and 2025-2030, a decrease of 24.52%.