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Modelling soil erosion risk based on RUSLE-3D using GIS in a Shivalik sub-watershed

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The RUSLE-3D (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation-3D) model was implemented in geographic information system (GIS) for predicting the soil loss and the spatial patterns of soil erosion risk required for soil conservation planning. High resolution remote sensing data (IKONOS and IRS LISS-IV) were used to prepare land use/land cover and soil maps to derive the vegetation cover and the soil erodibility factor whereas Digital Elevation Model (DEM) was used to generate spatial topographic factor. Soil erodibility (K) factor in the sub-watershed ranged from 0.30 to 0.48. The sub-watershed is dominated by natural forest in the hilly landform and agricultural land in the piedmont and alluvial plains. Average soil loss was predicted to be lowest in very dense forest and highest in the open forest in the hilly landform. Agricultural land-1 and agriculture land-2 to have moderately high and low soil erosion risk, respectively. The study predicted that 15% area has ‘moderate’ to ‘moderately high’ and 26% area has high to very high risk of soil erosion in the sub-watershed.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Director, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing for the encouragement and support during the course of the study. They also acknowledge the financial support from NRDMS, DST, Govt. of India, New Delhi for the project. Thanks are also due to the Chief Wildlife Warden, Uttarakhand for permitting them to work in sub-watershed falling in the Rajaji National Park.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Agriculture and Soils Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    SURESH KUMAR

  2. Forestry and Ecology Department, Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, ISRO, Dehradun, 248 001, India

    S P S KUSHWAHA

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  1. SURESH KUMAR
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  2. S P S KUSHWAHA
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Correspondence to SURESH KUMAR.

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KUMAR, S., KUSHWAHA, S.P.S. Modelling soil erosion risk based on RUSLE-3D using GIS in a Shivalik sub-watershed. J Earth Syst Sci 122, 389–398 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0276-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-013-0276-0

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