Abstract: Determining sediment yield is essential for successful watershed management, as it affects reservoir capacity, water quality, and environmental sustainability. The Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) ranks among the most commonly used hydrological modeling systems for simulating sediment dynamics across various climate zones and geographical regions. This comprehensive review analyzes 200 studies collected from Google Scholar and Scopus published between 2014 and 2024. Following rigorous inclusion and exclusion criteria, 143 studies were chosen for comprehensive review. Studies that clearly documented calibration and validation methods were prioritized, along with those reporting key statistical metrics including Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE), Coefficient of Determination (R²), Percent Bias (PBIAS), and Root Mean Standard Deviation Ratio (RSR). Findings indicate that SWAT delivers reliable and satisfactory performance when forecasting sediment yield at the watershed scale, showing consistent results across both calibration and validation stages. A comprehensive analysis of the chosen studies emphasizes prevailing methods in calibration and validation, reveals parameter sensitivities, and highlights issues concerning data limitations, low spatial resolution, and input data quality. The review concludes by identifying significant research gaps and suggesting ways to improve the accuracy and regional adaptation of SWAT applications for modeling sediment yield.

Keywords: SWAT model, sediment yield, hydrological modelling, model validation, model calibration, sensitivity analysis

Pages: 674-684