Soil erosion of Hungary assessed by spatially explicit modelling

Abstract

The conservation of soil resources is increasingly becoming a critical issue worldwide, with growing interest in carbon stocks and water storage within the soil. Hungary is no exception, and there has been a demand for a country level soil erosion map that incorporates digital information available from the latest surveys and digital mapping campaigns. The map presented in this paper in based on the extremely wet year of 2010, and thus provides users a 1:100,000 scale ‘worst case scenario’ of soil erosion risk in Hungary (see Main Map). Results from both the Universal Soil Loss Equation and the Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment models were combined in order to achieve a map that can be used by a wide range of professionals. Both models estimate soil erosion by water in tonnes per hectare per year.