Abstract
A certain number of studies have been carried out in recent years that aim at developing and applying a model capable of assessing water erosion of soil. Some of these have tried to quantitatively evaluate the volumes of soil loss, while others have focused their efforts on the recognition of the areas most prone to water erosion processes. This article presents the results of a research whose objective was that of evaluating water erosion susceptibility in a Sicilian watershed: the Naro river basin. A geomorphological study was carried out to recognize the water erosion landforms and define a set of parameters expressing both the intensity of hydraulic forces and the resistance of rocks/soils. The landforms were mapped and classified according to the dominant process in landsurfaces affected by diffuse or linear water erosion. A GIS layer was obtained by combining six determining factors (bedrock lithology, land use, soil texture, plan curvature, stream power index and slope-length factor) in unique conditions units. A geostatistical multivariate approach was applied by analysing the relationships between the spatial distributions of the erosion landforms and the unique condition units. Particularly, the density of eroded area for each combination of determining factors has been calculated: such function corresponds, in fact, to the conditional probability of erosion landforms to develop, under the same geoenvironmental conditions. In light of the obtained results, a general geomorphologic model for water erosion in the Naro river basin can be depicted: cultivated areas in clayey slopes, having fine-medium soil texture, are the most prone to be eroded; linear or diffuse water erosion processes dominate where the topography is favourable to a convergent or divergent runoff, respectively. For each of the two erosion process types, a susceptibility map was produced and submitted to a validation procedure based on a spatial random partition strategy. Both the success of the validation procedure of the susceptibility models and the geomorphological coherence of the relationships between factors and process that such models suggest, confirm the reliability of the method and the goodness of the predictions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agnesi V, Cappadonia C, Conoscenti C, Di Maggio C, Märker M, Rotigliano E (2006) Valutazione dell’erosione del suolo nel bacino del Fiume San Leonardo (Sicilia Centro-Occidentale, Italia). In: Rodolfi G (ed) Atti del Convegno Conclusivo del Progetto MIUR-COFIN 2002 Erosione idrica in ambiente mediterraneo: valutazione diretta e indiretta in aree sperimentali e bacini idrografici, Firenze 2004, 13–27
A.R.T.A. Sicilia (1994a) Carta dell’Uso del Suolo (scala 1:250000). Assessorato Territorio ed Ambiente della Regione Sicilia, Palermo
A.R.T.A. Sicilia (1994b) Sezioni 637140, 637130, 637100, 637090, 637070, 637060, 637050, 637030, 637020, 637010, 636160, 636120, 636080. Assessorato Territorio ed Ambiente della Regione Sicilia, Palermo
Ayalew L, Yamagishi H, Marui H, Kanno T (2005) Landslides in Sado island of Japan: part II. GIS-based susceptibility mapping with comparisons of results from two methods and verifications. Eng Geol 81:432–445
Carrara A, Guzzetti F (eds) (1995) Geographical information systems in assessing natural hazards. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht
Catalano R, Di Stefano P, Nigro F, Vitale FP (1993) Sicily mainland and its offshore: a structural comparison. In: Max MD, Colantoni P (eds) Geological development of the Sicilian–Tunisian platform, UNESCO Report in Marine Science, 58:19–24
Chung CF, Fabbri AG (2003) Validation of spatial prediction models for landslide hazard mapping. Nat Hazards 30:451–472
Ciccacci S, Fredi P, Lupia Palmieri E, Pugliese F (1981) Contributo dell’analisi geomorfica quantitativa alla valutazione dell’entità dell’erosione nei bacini fluviali. Boll Soc Geol It 99:455–516
Conoscenti C, Di Maggio C, Rotigliano E (2006) Analisi mediante GIS dei processi di erosione nel bacino del Fiume Naro (Sicilia Centro-Meridionale, Italia). In: Rodolfi G (ed) Atti del Convegno Conclusivo del Progetto MIUR-COFIN 2002 Erosione idrica in ambiente mediterraneo: valutazione diretta e indiretta in aree sperimentali e bacini idrografici, Firenze 2004, 211–227
Conoscenti C, Di Maggio C, Rotigliano E (2007) GIS analysis to assess landslide susceptibility in a fluvial basin of NW Sicily (Italy). Geomorphology. doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.10.039
Ferro V, Giordano G, Iovino M (1991) Isoerosivity and erosion risk map for Sicily. J Hydrol Sci 36(6):549–564
Fierotti G (1988) Carta dei Suoli della Sicilia. Ist. di Agronomia, Univ. di Palermo e Regione Sicilia, Assessorato Territorio ed Ambiente, Palermo
Märker M, Flügel WA, Rodolfi G (1999) Das Konzept der “Erosions Response Units” (ERU) und seine Anwendung am Beispiel des semi-ariden Mkomazi-Einzugsgebietes in der Provinz Kwazulu/Natal, Südafrika. In: Tübinger Geowissenschaftliche Studien, Reihe D.: Geoökologie und Quartaerforschung. Angewandte Studien zu Massenverlagerungen, Tübingen
Moore ID, Grayson RB, Ladson AR (1991) Digital terrain modeling: a review of hydrological, geomorphological, and biological applications. Hydrol process 5:3–30
Nearing MA, Foster GR, Lane LJ, Finkner SC (1989) A process-based soil erosion model for USDA-water erosion prediction project technology. Trans Am Soc Agric Eng 32:1587–1593
O’Callaghan JF, Mark DM (1984) The extraction of drainage network from digital elevation data. Comput Vis Graph Image Process 28:323–344
Regione Siciliana (1955) Carta Geologica d’Italia, Foglio 271, Agrigento, scala 1:100.000
Remondo J, Gonzalez-Diez A, Diaz De Teran JR, Cendrero A (2003) Landslide susceptibility models utilising spatial data analysis techniques. A case study from the lower Deba Valley, Guipúzcoa (Spain). Nat Hazards 30:67–279
Renard KG, Foster GR, Weesies GA, Mccool DK, Yoder DC (1997) Predicting soil erosion by water: a guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). USDA Agr. Res. Serv. Handbook n. 703
Servizio Geologico Italiano (1972) Carta Geologica d’Italia, Foglio 635, Agrigento, scala 1:50.000
Wilson JP, Gallant JC (2000) Terrain analysis: principles and applications. Wiley & Sons, Inc., Canada
Wischmeier WH, Smith DD (1965) Predicting rainfall erosion losses from cropland east of Rocky Mountains; guide for the selection of practices for soil and water conservation. Agriculture handbook n. 282, Agr. Res. Serv. in Coop. Purdue Agr. Exp. Station US Dept. of Agr., Washington
Acknowledgements
The research, the results of which are herein described, was carried out in the framework of the national research project: MIUR PRIN COFIN 2004, national coordinator Prof. Giuliano Rodolfi, local coordinator Prof. Valerio Agnesi. The suggestions of the anonymous referees have really given the authors the opportunity for enhancing the completeness and the scientific clearness and rigour of the article. Authors wish to thank Dr Penelope Dyer for performing the linguistic revision of the text.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Conoscenti, C., Di Maggio, C. & Rotigliano, E. Soil erosion susceptibility assessment and validation using a geostatistical multivariate approach: a test in Southern Sicily. Nat Hazards 46, 287–305 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-007-9188-0
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-007-9188-0