Modeling Soil Erosion Using RUSLE and GIS – A Case Study of Korifla Sub-Watershed (Central Morocco)

Abstract

Soil loss is a problem that contributes to land degradation in many countries and Morocco is no exception. Our study focuses on water erosion in Korifla, a sub-basin of the Bouregreg watershed in northern Morocco. The objective is to quantify erosion using the RUSLE method which is based on five factors: Runoff erosivity, soil erodibility, cover factor, topography and conservation practices. These are processed by remote sensing and a geographic information system. The soil loss map shows that on an area of 1838 km2, erosion is estimated to be between 0.00 t/ha/year and 27.61 t/ha/year. The cumulative effect of the factors R, K, LS, C, and P are both the origin of this erosion and its spatial distribution.