Abstract
Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and Geographic Information System (GIS) have been used to map and quantify vulnerability of soil erosion in a semi arid ungauged Jhagrabaria watershed of Allahabad district of state Uttar Pradesh, India. The spatial pattern of average annual soil erosion rate was estimated by integrating different thematic layers at GIS platform. GIS vector layers including, rainfall erosivity (Ro), slope length and steepness (LS) factor, soil erodibility (K), conservation practices (P), and cover management factor (C) have been estimated using satellite data and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), respectively. The resultant map of average annual soil erosion shows a maximum soil loss in range of 0.3 to 0.6 t ha−1 year−1 (82.41 km2 and 54.92% of watershed area). While maximum soil loss ranges from > 9.0 t ha−1 year−1 (0.67 km2 and 0.45% of watershed) was reported under hillocks (lower part) of the study area. The work outlines that the vegetation cover arrests the soil erosion in the region. The study provides spatial erosion risk maps of 30 m. These maps will be useful in developing better strategies for land planning and management in the environmentally sensitive small hillocks areas.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Valipour M, Montazar AA (2012) An evaluation of SWDC and WinSRFR models to optimize of infiltration parameters in furrow irrigation. Am J Sci Res 69:128–142
Valipour M (2013a) Increasing irrigation efficiency by management strategies: cutback and surge irrigation. ARPN J Agric Biol Sci 8(1):35–43
Valipour M (2014) Application of new mass transfer formulae for computation of evapotranspiration. J Appl Water Eng Res 2(1):33–46. https://doi.org/10.1080/23249676.2014.923790
Valipour M (2013b) Use of surface water supply index to assessing of water resources management in Colorado and Oregon, US. Adv Agric Sci Eng Res 3(2):631–640
Valipour M (2013c) Evolution of irrigation-equipped areas as share of cultivated areas. Irrig Drain Syst Eng 2:e114. https://doi.org/10.4172/2168-9768.1000e114
Valipour M (2012) Number of required observation data for rainfall forecasting according to the climate conditions. Am J Sci Res 74:79–86
Wischmeier WH, Smith DD (1978) Predicting rainfall erosion losses. A guide to conservation planning. Agriculture handbook no. 537. US Department of Agriculture Science and Education Administration, Washington, p 163
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). Agriculture handbook, vol 703. US Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, pp 1–251
Van der Knijff JM, Jone RJA, Montanarella L (1999) Soil erosion risk assessment in Italy. European Soil Bureau, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg
Wang G, Wente S, Gertner GZ, Anderson A (2002) Improvement in mapping vegetation cover factor for the universal soil loss equation by geostatistical methods with Landsat thematic mapper images. Int J Remote Sens 23(18):3649–3667. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160110114538
Lin WT, Lin CY, Chou WC (2006) Assessment of vegetation recovery and soil erosion at landslides caused by a catastrophic earthquake: a case study in Central Taiwan. Ecol Eng 28(1):79–89. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoleng.2006.04.005
Cartagena DF (2004) Remotely Sensed Land Cover Parameter Extraction For Watershed Erosion Modelling. M.Sc. (Thesis). ITC Netherlands
Van der Knijff JM, Jone RJA, Montanarella L (2002) Soil erosion risk assessment in Italy. European soil bureau, joint research Center of European Commission. EUR 19022EN
NSERL (1995) WEPP user summary. National Soil Erosion Research Laboratory, US Department of Agriculture. http://topsoil.nserl.Purdue.Edu/nserlweb/weppmain/docs/readme.Htm (accessed October 02, 2015).
Morgan RPC, Morgan DDV, Finney HJ (1984) A predictive model for the assessment of soil erosion risk. J Agric Eng Res 30:245–253. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8634(84)80025-6
Paningbatan EP (2001) Geographic information system-assisted dynamic modeling of soil erosion and hydrologic processes at a watershed scale. Philipp Agric Sci 84(4):388–393
Beasley DB, Huggins LF, Monke EJ (1980) ANSWERS: a model for watershed planning. Transactions of the ASAE 23(4):938–944
Bouguerra H, Abderrazak B, Khanchoul K, Derdous O, Tachi ES (2017) Mapping erosion prone areas in the Bouhamdane watershed (Algeria) using the revised universal soil loss equation through GIS. J Water Land Dev 32(1):13–23. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwld-2017-0002
Dabral PP, Baithuri N, Pandey A (2008) Soil erosion assessment in a hilly catchment of north eastern India using USLE, GIS and remote sensing. Water Resour Manag 22:1783–1798
Rawat KS, Mishra AK, Bhattacharayya R (2016) Soil erosion risk assessment and apatial mapping using LANDSAT 7 ETM + RUSLE and GIS–A case study. Arab J Geosci 9(4):288. https://doi.org/10.1007/512517-015-2157-0
Ganasri BP, Ramesh H (2017) Assessment of soil erosion by RUSLE model using remote sensing and GIS—a case study of Nethravathi Basin. Geosci Front 7(6):953–961
Fagbohun BJ, Anifowose AYB, Odeyemi C, Aladejana OO, Aladeboyeje AI (2016) GIS-based estimation of soil erosion rates and identification of critical areas in Anambra sub-basin, Nigeria. Model Earth Syst Environ 3: 159.(2):1–10
Renard KG, Freimund JR (1994) Using monthly precipitation data to estimate the R-factor in the revised USLE. J Hydrol 157(1–4):287–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-1694(94)90110-4
Rawat KS, Mishra AK, Sehgal VK (2011) Spatial variability of satellite derived rainfall erosivity factors (R-factors) for a watershed near Allahabad. J Agric Phys 11(1):71–78
de Oliveira PTS, Sobrinho TA, Rodrigues DBB, Panachuki E (2011) Erosion risk mapping applied to environmental zoning. Water Resour Manag 25(3):1021–1036. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-010-9739-0
Jebari S, Berndtsson R, Olsson J, Bahri A (2012) Soil erosion estimation based on rainfall disaggregation. J Hydrol 436-437:102–110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.03.001
de Asis AM, Oki K, Shimizu Y (2008) Accuracy and applicability of linear spectral unmixing in delineating potential erosion areas in tropical watersheds. Int J Remote Sens 29(14):4151–4171. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160701874579
Iserloh T, Ries JB, Arnáez J, Boix-Fayos BV, Cerda A, Echeverría MT, Fernández-Galvez J, Fister W, Geißler C, Gómez JA, Gómez-Macpherson H, Kuhn NJ, Lázaro R, León FJ, Martínez-Mena M, Martínez-Murillo JF, Marzen M, Mingorance MD, Ortigosa L, Peters P, Regüés D, Ruiz-Sinoga JD, Scholten T, Seeger M, Solé-Benet A, Wengel R, Wirtz S (2013) European small portable rainfall simulators: a comparison of rainfall characteristics. Catena 110:100–112
Panagos P, Borrelli P, Meusburger K, Alewell C, Lugato E, Montanarella M (2015) Estimating the soil erosion cover-management factor at the European scale. Land Use Policy 48(38–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2015.05.021
Deng JS, Wang K, Deng YH, Qi GJ (2008) PCA-based land-use change detection and analysis using multitemporal and multisensor satellite data. Int J Remote Sens 29(16):4823–4838. https://doi.org/10.1080/01431160801950162
Irvem A, Topaloğlu F, Uygur V (2007) Estimating spatial distribution of soil loss over Seyhan River basin in Turkey. J Hydrol 336(1–2):30–37
Lufafa A, Tenywa M, Isabirye M, Majaliwa M, Woomer P (2003) Prediction of soil erosion in a Lake Victoria basin catchment using a GIS-based universal soil loss model. Agric Syst 76(3):883–894. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0308-521X(02)00012-4
Wischmeier WH, Smith DD (1965) Predicting rainfall-erosion losses from cropland east of the Rocky Mountains. Agricultural. Handbook no. 282. U.S. Dept. Agr., Washington, DC
Ausseil AGE, Dymond JR, Kirschbaum MUF, Andrew RM, Parfitt RL (2013) Assessment of multiple ecosystem services in New Zealand at the catchment scale. Environ Model Softw 43:37–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2013.01.006
Rawat KS, Tripathi VK, Paul G, Mishra AK (2014a) The standard precipitation index analysis for drought assessment in Indian agro-climate regions, using of GIS and remote sensing data, NCWES–2014, Centre for Water Resources Institute of science and technology JNTU Hyderabad Kukatpally, Hyderabad −85, 30th June-1st July, 2014, pp. 223-232
Rawat KS, Mishra AK, Sehgal VK, Bhattacharyya R (2014b) Soil Erosion Risk Assessment and Spatial Mapping in Jhagrabaria Watershed, Allahabad, U.P. (India) by Using LANDSAT 7ETM+Remote Sensing Data, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Geographical Information System (GIS). In: Landscape Ecology and Water Management, Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences Vol. 2 (Mahtab Singh, R.B. Singh and M.I. Hussain. (eds.)). Springer. 205–219, http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-4-431-54871-3_15?no-access=true
Rawat KS, Mathur GK, Mishra A, Singh J (2014c) Effect of DEM data resolution on low relief region watershed boundaries delineating using of SWAT model and DEM derived from CARTOSAT-1 (IRS-P5), SRTM and ASTER. J Appl Nat Sci 6(1):144–151
Rawat KS, Singh SK (2017) Estimation of surface runoff from semi-arid ungauged agricultural watershed using SCS-CN method and earth observation data sets. Water Conserv Sci Eng 1(4):233–247. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41101-017-0016-4
Bala A, Rawat KS (2015) Vegetation indices mapping for Bhiwani district of Haryana (India) through LANDSAT-7ETM+ and remote sensing techniques. J Appl Nat Sci 7(2):874–879
Rawat KS, Mishra AK, Kumar R, Singh J (2012) Vegetation condition index pattern (2002-2007) over Indian agro-climate regions, using of GIS and SPOT sensor NDVI data. J Appl Nat Sci 4(2):214–219
Zhou ZC, Shangguan ZP, Zhao D (2006) Modeling vegetation coverage and soil erosion in the Loess Plateau area of China. Ecol Model 198(1-2):263–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2006.04.019
Karydas CG, Sekuloska T, Silleos GN (2009) Quantification and site-specification of the support practice factor when mapping soil erosion risk associated with olive plantations in the Mediterranean island of Crete. Environ Monit Assess 149(1–2):19–28
Tian YC, Zhou YM, Wu BF, Zhou WF (2009) Risk assessment of water soil erosion in Upper Basin of Miyun Reservoir. Environ Geol, Beijing, China 57:937–942
Kouli M, Soupios P, Vallianatos F (2009) Soil erosion prediction using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in a GIS framework, Chania, northwestern Crete, Greece. Environ Geol 57:483–497
Prasannakumar V, Vijith H, Geetha N, Shiny R (2011) Regional scale erosion assessment of a subtropical highland segment in the western Ghats of Kerala, South India. Water Resour Manag 25(14):3715–3727. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-011-9878-y
Van der Knijff JM, Jone RJA, Montanarella L (2000) Soil erosion risk assessment in Europe. EUR 19044 EN. Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, Luxembourg, p 34
Adham MI, Shirazi SM Othman F,Rahman S, Yusop Z, Ismail Z (2014) Runoff Potentiality of a Watershed through SCS and Functional Data Analysis Technique. Sci World J 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1155/2014/379763
Tedela NH, McCutcheon SC, Rasmussen TC, Hawkins RH, Swank WT, Campbell JL, Adams MB, Jackson CR, Tollner EW (2012). Runoff Curve Numbers for 10 small forested watersheds in the mountains of the Eastern United States. J Hydrol Eng 17(11):1188–1198
Ragan RM, Jackson TJ (1980) Run off synthesis using Landsat and SCS model. Journal of Hydraulic Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers 106:667–678
Acknowledgments
The authors express sincere thanks to volunteer reviewers and to the editor in chief of the journal and USGS for providing the open access data.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rawat, K.S., Singh, S.K. Appraisal of Soil Conservation Capacity Using NDVI Model-Based C Factor of RUSLE Model for a Semi Arid Ungauged Watershed: a Case Study. Water Conserv Sci Eng 3, 47–58 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41101-018-0042-x
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41101-018-0042-x