Estimation of soil erosion using USLE and GIS

Abstract

Soil erosion is one of the most serious environmental problem which must be taken in to consideration to prevent economic imbalances in nature. Soil erosion not only affect the agricultural productivity but also increases level of sedimentation. The study was carried out to determine the soil erosion for the watershed which is located in Godavari middle sub basin, Nanded district, Maharashtra state (India). The universal soil loss equation (USLE) and Geographic information system (GIS) technique was used to determine soil erosion. Present study revealed that, the study area is under moderate erosion with an average soil loss 7.233 tones/ha/yr. Where as minimum and maximum erosion rate observed as 5.39 tones/ha/yr to 10.27 tones/ha/yr respectively. The various maps of USLE factors prepared in QGIS environment. Statistically significant relationship obtained between soil loss and cover management factor (C). It was observed that C factor more influences in soil loss than any other factor.