Soil erosion modeling of a Himalayan watershed using RS and GIS

• Published in: Environmental earth sciences Vol. 59; no. 2; pp. 399 - 410
• Main Authors: Pandey, Ashish, Mathur, Abhisekh, Mishra, S. K., Mal, B. C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer-Verlag 01.11.2009; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied geophysics; Biogeosciences; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Environmental science; Environmental Science and Engineering; Exact sciences and technology; Freshwater; Geochemistry; Geographic information systems; Geology; Hydrology/Water Resources; Internal geophysics; Marine and continental quaternary; Original Article; Remote sensing; River basins; Rivers; Sediment yield; Sediments; Soil conservation; Soil erosion; Soils; Surficial geology; Terrestrial Pollution; Watersheds; Arunachal Pradesh India; Asia; Northeastern India; Himalayas; India; Himalaya Mountains; India, Arunachal Pradesh; GIS; USLE; DEM; Remote sensing; MMF; Erosion; rivers; models; erodibility; Space remote sensing; digital elevation models; geographic information systems; drainage basins; sediment yield; conservation; prediction; soil erosion; soils; landform evolution
• ISSN: 1866-6280; 1866-6299
• DOI: 10.1007/s12665-009-0038-0

Employing the remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS), an assessment of sediment yield from Dikrong river basin of Arunachal Pradesh (India) has been presented in this paper. For prediction of soil erosion, the Morgan-Morgan and Finney (MMF) model and the universal soil loss equation (USLE) have been utilized at a spatial grid scale of 100 m × 100 m, an operational unit. The average annual soil loss from the Dikrong river basin is estimated as 75.66 and 57.06 t ha −1  year −1 using MMF and USLE models, respectively. The watershed area falling under the identified very high, severe, and very severe zones of soil erosion need immediate attention for soil conservation.