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Regional Scale Erosion Assessment of a Sub-tropical Highland Segment in the Western Ghats of Kerala, South India

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  • V. Prasannakumar
  • H. Vijith
  • N. Geetha
  • R. Shiny

Abstract

Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been used in combination with remote sensing and GIS techniques to assess the spatial pattern and annual rate of soil erosion in the Munnar Forest Division in Western Ghats, Kerala, India. The RUSLE takes into account several factors such as rainfall, soil erodibility, slope length and steepness, land cover and erosion control practice for soil erosion prediction. Maximum soil loss of 109.31 t h −1 y −1 and the areas with extreme erosion (erosion is higher than 50 t h −1 y −1 ) are confined to 11.46% of the total area, while the area occupied by severe erosion (erosion rate between 25 and 50 t h −1 y −1 ) is 27.53%. The high rate of annual soil erosion is associated with areas of high terrain alteration from the plantation activities and highly elevated hills/plateau margins with steep side slopes. Such an output is highly useful in decision making context to avoid land acquisition in erosion risk areas, or, alternatively, to recommend soil conservation measures to reduce soil loss, if developmental activities are to be continued at high soil erosion risk areas. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2011

Suggested Citation

  • V. Prasannakumar & H. Vijith & N. Geetha & R. Shiny, 2011. "Regional Scale Erosion Assessment of a Sub-tropical Highland Segment in the Western Ghats of Kerala, South India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(14), pages 3715-3727, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:25:y:2011:i:14:p:3715-3727
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-011-9878-y
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    6. P. Dabral & Neelakshi Baithuri & Ashish Pandey, 2008. "Soil Erosion Assessment in a Hilly Catchment of North Eastern India Using USLE, GIS and Remote Sensing," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 22(12), pages 1783-1798, December.
    7. Paulo de Oliveira & Teodorico Sobrinho & Dulce Rodrigues & Elói Panachuki, 2011. "Erosion Risk Mapping Applied to Environmental Zoning," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(3), pages 1021-1036, February.
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    1. Amit Kumar & Mamta Devi & Benidhar Deshmukh, 2014. "Integrated Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System Based RUSLE Modelling for Estimation of Soil Loss in Western Himalaya, India," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(10), pages 3307-3317, August.
    2. E. Molina-Navarro & S. Martínez-Pérez & A. Sastre-Merlín & R. Bienes-Allas, 2014. "Catchment Erosion and Sediment Delivery in a Limno-Reservoir Basin Using a Simple Methodology," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(8), pages 2129-2143, June.
    3. V. Chowdary & D. Chakraborthy & A. Jeyaram & Y. Murthy & J. Sharma & V. Dadhwal, 2013. "Multi-Criteria Decision Making Approach for Watershed Prioritization Using Analytic Hierarchy Process Technique and GIS," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(10), pages 3555-3571, August.
    4. I. Gaubi & A. Chaabani & A. Ben Mammou & M. H. Hamza, 2017. "A GIS-based soil erosion prediction using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) (Lebna watershed, Cap Bon, Tunisia)," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 86(1), pages 219-239, March.
    5. Shixian Xu & Xinjun Wang & Xiaofei Ma & Shenghan Gao, 2023. "Risk Assessment and Prediction of Soil Water Erosion on the Middle Northern Slope of Tianshan Mountain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-14, March.
    6. Hamed Noori & Hojat Karami & Saeed Farzin & Seyed Mostafa Siadatmousavi & Barat Mojaradi & Ozgur Kisi, 2018. "Investigation of RS and GIS techniques on MPSIAC model to estimate soil erosion," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 91(1), pages 221-238, March.

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