Study of evaluation of soil and water conservation measures on soil erosion at micro-watershed scale using RUSLE model and GIS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.53550/Keywords:
GIS, RUSLE, Rate of soil loss, Soil conservationAbstract
In this study, the impact of soil and water conservation (SWC) measures implemented under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP) on the reduction of the rate of soil erosion in Krishnagiri watershed, Tamil Nadu was carried out. Revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) in geographical information system (GIS) provided a spatial distribution of soil erosion risk areas. The average annual rainfall erosivity (R) of the RUSLE estimated from daily rainfall depth for 30 years period was found to be 2552.5 MJ mm ha-1 yr-1. The soil erodibility (K) factor ranged from 0.10 to 0.35 Mg h MJ-1mm-1. Digital elevation model (DEM) of the study watershed provided slope length and slope steepness (LS) factor. Land use (LU) map of the watershed was used to derive the cover management factor (C) map. Integrating the thematic layers of RUSLE in GIS environment gave the spatial distribution of the rate of soil loss during pre-treatment and post-treatment (field bund and stone wall) at micro-watersheds. The changes in the rate of soil loss and total soil loss between pre-treatment and post-treatment represent the impact of conservation practices on the soil loss of the watershed. The reduction of the rate of soil loss is from 7.64 t ha-1 yr-1 to 6.4 t ha-1 yr-1 with the prediction of total soil reduction from 71831 t yr-1 to 60172 t yr-1. Simulation of alternative conservation practices showed mulching is better than stripcropping in controlling the soil erosion.
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