## 2 Materials and Methods
### Methodological Approach and IntErO Model  
The present research study aims to utilize the IntErO model in order to predict the magnitude of soil erosion and the maximum outflow from three specific river basins located in Cluj County. The utilization of the IntErO model, in conjunction with other soil erosion models, facilitates an exhaustive understanding of the extent of erosion observed in river basins that exhibit similar characteristics throughout various global regions [1,5,9]. There have been many different models of soil erosion devised, and they have all been evaluated on a global scale. The primary issue with process-based models is that they have an excessively high number of input parameters, and there are insufficient data to evaluate the model's predictions. Therefore, empirical models for determining the amount of soil erosion play an important part in the process of planning for soil conservation. The Erosion Potential Method (EPM) of [PERSON] [38,39] is an empirical model that was initially developed for Yugoslavia. It has since been utilized in various research studies, particularly to explore the effect of land use on soil erosion and sediment output. The method's ability to be used to analyze the risk of erosion using techniques and modeling spatial data (in a GIS platform) is a big advantage. The Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) developed by [PERSON] [9,40,41] is a program package for the Windows Operating System that includes the EPM as an incorporated part of the algorithm (Figure 3). As field-based erosion studies are laborious, expensive, and require a considerable amount of time, the use of soil erosion models to assess the severity of soil erosion on a regional scale is gaining favor in today's world. In contrast to other models, models of soil erosion can quickly determine the amount of soil that has been lost, given that the relevant data are usually available and open-source.  
The IntErO model is capable of managing a large number of data, thanks to its processing of 22 inputs, which results in the return of 26 final result parameters once the calculations have been performed. Figure 3 illustrates the flowchart for the IntErO algorithm, complete with the input and output data. Due to the fact that it is founded on both descriptive and quantitative methodologies, the IntErO model might be referred to as a semi-quantitative one. This approach is the most quantitative compared to other semi-quantitative methods, since it only employs descriptive assessment for three characteristics: soil erodibility, soil protection, and the degree of erosion in the catchment. A limitation of  
Figure 3: IntErO model flowchart (**left**) and interface (**right**).  
the IntErO model is that the necessary database and workflow is time-consuming, and can be carried out on individual river basins. Thus, in order to generate erosion assessments on larger areas, it is necessary to establish numerous watershed IntErO scenarios, as opposed to USLE, RUSLE and other methods capable of generating results on large areas. Nevertheless, the IntErO model is advantageous for smaller-scale implementations, where individual river basins can be analyzed, as well as for analyzing the impact of climate change, land use and land-cover changes. Predictions and estimations can easily be obtained based on the interchangeable values from the IntErO workflow, in order to determine how the climatic factors and land use affect the erosion processes.