Comparative Study of RUSLE and USLE Soil Erosion Models using Remote Sensing and GIS for the Ganga River Basin in Fatehpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India

IJEP 42(12): 1509-1516 : Vol. 42 Issue. 12 (December 2022)

Mannu Yadav1 and R. C. Vaishya2*

1. Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Geographic Information System (GIS) Cell, Prayagraj – 211 004, Uttar Pradesh, India
2. Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Department of Civil Engineering, Prayagraj – 211 004, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

Soil erosion is a major problem for agricultural land in different parts of the world which is mainly affecting the top layer of the soil. Hence, the main aim of this research was to evaluate the average annual soil loss using geospatial tools and techniques with different models for the Ganga river basin in Fatehpur region, Uttar Pradesh, India. In present research work, a comparative study of revised universal soil loss erosion (RUSLE) model and universal soil loss erosion (USLE) model has been done to estimate the annual soil erosion loss in tonne/ha/year. In this study, various datasets have been acquired from different authentic sources for the study area and a conceptual methodology has been applied to calculate the annual average soil loss factor (A). These datasets were processed in ESRI ArcGIS 10.5 and ERDAS imagine software with key informant interview (KII) to prepare the digital thematic layer of input parameters, such as rainfall erosivity factor (R), cover and management factor (C), supporting conservation practice factor (P), slope length and steepness factor (LS) and soil erodibility factor (K). Furthermore, the raster layer of annual soil loss factor (A) has been classified into four categories, such as no erosion, low erosion, moderate erosion and high erosion. As a result, polynomial relationship, using trend analysis, between these two models was analysed as y=0.0119x2+0.362x+2.97 with R2 value to be 0.998. This study would be beneficial for administration for mitigation of soil erosion in the river basin as well as socio-economic activities for the local people.

Keywords

Remote sensing, Soil erosion, RUSLE/USLE, Ganga river, GIS

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