EPM for Soil Loss Estimation in Different Geomorphologic Conditions and Data Conversion by Using GIS

Abstract

Techniques like remote sensing and GIS are nowadays applied to evaluate erosion risk. The real use of GIS comes from the ability to integrate spatial information as well as statistical and analytical processes to derive spatial patterns not readily apparent to the observer. Various methods/models have been developed to assess erosion intensity, soil loss, production of erosive material, sediment transport etc. The Erosion Potential Method (EPM) is the most used method for erosion risk assessment and development of erosion maps for Western and Central Balkan countries. The main aim of this project is to construct a GIS overlay model with the use of some basic GIS analytical functions according to the EPM. The study area covers two regions with different geomorphologic conditions. Significant erosion processes as well as sedimentation processes are visible on the field, especially intense erosion, as gullies, landslides, rock falls and talus cones which are not taken into consideration with other more commonly used methods in Europe. EPM will be employed in the GIS environment for soil loss estimation in m3/km2/yr as initially imposed by this method, and later data will be converted in t/ha/yr as imposed by the more commonly used methods in Europe, which will consequently give an idea about the applicability of the EPM model in different geomorphologic conditions to obtain compatible and comparable results with the results obtained from other methods.