Using EPM Model and GIS for Estimation of Soil Erosion in Souss Basin, Morocco

Abstract

The study is aimed at predicting soil erosion and investigate its spatial distribution in Souss basin area used EPM (erosion potential model), also known as Gavrilovic method, incorporating into GIS (geographic information system) software. The spatial distribution of soil erosion shows three main zones in the studied area (very slight, slight to moderate). The main factors in the EPM (soil erodibility, soil protection, slope, temperature and rainfall) were evaluated using GIS software. Data layers used in this study were created from digital elevation model (DEM), lithology maps, landsat 8 oli digital images, the highest amount of erosion occurred in the northeast regions, Results showed that about 87.84% of the study area is classified in low and very low to destructive erosion intensify, 12.15% of the study area was moderate potential soil losses.