ASSESSMENT OF SOIL EROSION RISK USING GIS TECHNIQUES, IN ROMANIAN SUBCARPATHIAN MOUNTAINS

References: 17th International Multidisciplinary Scientific GeoConference SGEM 2017, www.sgem.org, SGEM2017 Conference Proceedings, ISBN 978-619-7408-05-8 / ISSN 1314-2704, 29 June - 5 July, 2017, Vol. 17, Issue 32, 39-48 pp, DOI: 10.5593/sgem2017/32/S13.006

ABSTRACT

Regarding to the situation in Romania, the country’s total agricultural surface of 14.946 million ha, an area of 6.367 million ha (42.6%), with slopes greater than 5%, is prone to water erosion and other processes associated. Of these, over 900,000 ha are affected by very strong and excessive erosion. The study aims to quantify the soil loss by erosion process and to specify the main factor affecting the erosion development in the study area using geoprocessing techniques and the erosion predictive model Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), which is a useful tool for analyzing, establishing and managing soil erosion. The studied area was Prahova Subcarpathian Mountains which is situated in the southern part of Bucegi Mountains, Romania. The soil erosion parameters were collected and evaluated according to the model: the K factor map was obtained from the soil map, the R factor map was developed from the rainfall data, the C factor map was generated based on the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, and the LS factor was calculated from digital elevation model (DEM) with a spatial resolution of 30 m. P factor map was assumed as 1 for the watershed because only a very small area has conservation practices. By integrating the six factor maps in GIS through pixel-based computing, the spatial distribution of soil loss was obtained by the RUSLE model. As a result, it was demonstrated that GIS is an effective tool in generating spatial and quantitative information on soil erosion studies and risk assessment mapping.

Keywords: RUSLE, soil erosion, GIS, geoprocessing