Integrated universal soil loss equation (USLE) and Geographical Information System (GIS) for soil erosion estimation in A Sap basin: Central Vietnam

Abstract Central Vietnam is very susceptible to soil erosion due to its complicated terrain and heavy rainfall. The objective of this study was to quantify soil erosion in the A Sap river basin, A Luoi district, Thua Thien Hue Province, Vietnam, using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and Geographical Information System (GIS). The results showed that 34% of land area lost accumulated to 10 t ha−1 year−1 while 47% of the total area lost less than 1 t ha−1 year−1. Natural forest land lost the most with an average of about 19 t ha−1 year−1, followed by plantation forest with approximately 7 t ha−1 year−1 and other agricultural lands at 3.70 and 1.45 t ha−1 year−1 for yearly crops and paddy rice, respectively. Soil erosion was most sensitive to the topographic factor (LS), followed by the practice support factor (P), soil erodibility factor (K), cropping management (C), and the rainfall erosivity factor (R). Implications are that changes to the cultivated calendar and implementing intercropping are effective ways to prevent soil erosion in cultivated lands. Furthermore, introducing broad leaves trees for mountainous areas in A Sap basin was the most effective practice in reducing soil erosion. The study also pointed out that the combination of available data sources used with the USLE and GIS technology is a viable option to calculate soil erosion in Central Vietnam, which would allow targeted attention toward a solution is to reduce future soil erosion.

[1]  Luca Montanarella,et al.  Soil erosion risk assessment in Europe , 2000 .

[2]  Mark A. Nearing,et al.  A Single, Continuous Function for Slope Steepness Influence on Soil Loss , 1997 .

[3]  Hoang Khanh Linh Nguyen,et al.  Basin resources management: simulating soil erosion risk by soil and water assessment tool (SWAT) in Ta Trach river watershed, central Vietnam , 2014 .

[4]  Donald Gabriëls,et al.  Extending the RUSLE with the Monte Carlo error propagation technique to predict long term average off-site sediment accumulation. , 2000 .

[5]  S. F. G. Yusuf,et al.  The Impact of Soil Erosion on Agricultural Potential and Performance of Sheshegu Community Farmers in the Eastern Cape of South Africa , 2013 .

[6]  Evaluating the effect of land use changes on soil erosion and sediment yield using a grid‐based distributed modelling approach , 2012 .

[7]  Ioannis Z. Gitas,et al.  Multi-temporal soil erosion risk assessment in N. Chalkidiki using a modified USLE raster model. , 2009 .

[8]  Steven M. de Jong,et al.  Derivation of vegetative variables from a landsat tm image for modelling soil erosion , 1994 .

[9]  A. Mahmoudzadeh,et al.  Land use effects on sediment yields and soil loss rates in small basins of Triassic sandstone near Sydney, NSW, Australia , 2002 .

[10]  Bofu Yu,et al.  A Robust Estimate of the R-Factor for the Universal Soil Loss Equation , 1996 .

[11]  A. Alam,et al.  Integration of GIS and Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) for Soil Loss Estimation in a Himalayan Watershed , 2011 .

[12]  J. García‐Ruiz,et al.  The effects of land uses on soil erosion in Spain: A review , 2010 .

[13]  D. Mah,et al.  Evaluation of C and P Factors in Universal Soil Loss Equation on Trapping Sediment: Case Study of Santubong River , 2013 .

[14]  Syed Ahmad Ali,et al.  Estimation of soil erosion using USLE and GIS in Awassa Catchment, Rift valley, Central Ethiopia , 2016 .

[15]  Gusta Gunawan,et al.  Soil Erosion Estimation Based on GIS and Remote Sensing for Supporting Integrated Water Resources Conservation Management , 2013 .

[16]  A. Belasri,et al.  Estimation of Soil Erosion Risk Using the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and Geo-Information Technology in Oued El Makhazine Watershed, Morocco , 2016 .

[17]  Nicola Fohrer,et al.  Suitability of S factor algorithms for soil loss estimation at gently sloped landscapes , 2009 .

[18]  Chaofu Wei,et al.  The effects of land uses on purplish soil erosion in hilly area of Sichuan Province, China , 2005 .

[19]  B. G. Vaghei,et al.  A New Method for Determining the Soil Erodibility Factor Based on Fuzzy Systems , 2005 .

[20]  F. Bonn,et al.  Agricultural land-use patterns and soil erosion vulnerability of watershed units in Vietnam’s northern highlands , 2006, Landscape Ecology.

[21]  K. Oost,et al.  Soil erosion as a driver of land-use change , 2005 .

[22]  T. G. Freeman,et al.  Calculating catchment area with divergent flow based on a regular grid , 1991 .

[23]  I. Moore,et al.  Length-slope factors for the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation: simplified method of estimation , 1992 .

[24]  Andrew A. Millward,et al.  Adapting the RUSLE to model soil erosion potential in a mountainous tropical watershed , 1999 .

[25]  David Pimentel,et al.  Soil Erosion: A Food and Environmental Threat , 2006 .

[26]  Chi Zhang,et al.  Deforestation Effects on Soil Erosion in the Lake Kivu Basin, D.R. Congo-Rwanda , 2016 .

[27]  G. R. Foster,et al.  Predicting soil erosion by water : a guide to conservation planning with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) , 1997 .

[28]  R. Hickey,et al.  Estimating the LS Factor for RUSLE through Iterative Slope Length Processing of Digital Elevation Data within Arclnfo Grid , 2001 .

[29]  Rui Li,et al.  Extension of a GIS procedure for calculating the RUSLE equation LS factor , 2013, Comput. Geosci..

[30]  E. K. Forkuo,et al.  MODELING SOIL EROSION USING RUSLE AND GIS TOOLS , 2013 .

[31]  P. Borrelli,et al.  A New European Slope Length and Steepness Factor (LS-Factor) for Modeling Soil Erosion by Water , 2015 .

[32]  L. M. Risse,et al.  Slope Gradient Effects on Soil Loss for Steep Slopes , 1994 .

[33]  Rattan Lal,et al.  The Global Impact Of Soil Erosion On Productivity: I: Absolute and Relative Erosion-induced Yield Losses☆ , 2003 .

[34]  R. Lal,et al.  Soil degradation by erosion , 2001 .

[35]  Hyeon-Sik Kim,et al.  SOIL EROSION MODELING USING RUSLE AND GIS ON THE IMHA WATERSHED , 2006 .

[36]  Mauro Antonio Homem Antunes,et al.  NDVI time series for monitoring RUSLE cover management factor in a tropical watershed , 2014 .

[37]  W. H. Wischmeier,et al.  Predicting rainfall erosion losses : a guide to conservation planning , 1978 .

[38]  Ahmet Karaburun,et al.  Estimation of C factor for soil erosion modeling using NDVI in Buyukcekmece watershed , 2010 .

[39]  N. Harmancioglu,et al.  Integration of GIS with USLE in Assessment of Soil Erosion , 2002 .

[40]  T. T. Phuong,et al.  Modeling Soil Erosion within Small Moutainous Watershed in Central Vietnam Using GIS and SWAT , 2014 .

[41]  Baoyuan Liu,et al.  Slope Length Effects on Soil Loss for Steep Slopes , 2000 .

[42]  B. Fu,et al.  The effects of land-use combinations on soil erosion: a case study in the Loess Plateau of China , 2009 .

[43]  Jaroslav Hofierka,et al.  Modelling Topographic Potential for Erosion and Deposition Using GIS , 1996, Int. J. Geogr. Inf. Sci..

[44]  Gerard Govers,et al.  A GIS procedure for automatically calculating the USLE LS factor on topographically complex landscape units , 1996 .

[45]  Saowanee Wijitkosum.  Impacts of Land Use Changes on Soil Erosion in Pa Deng Sub-district, Adjacent Area of Kaeng Krachan National Park, Thailand , 2018 .

[46]  Mark A. Nearing,et al.  EVALUATION OF WEPP AND ITS COMPARISON WITH USLE AND RUSLE , 2000 .

[47]  Graeme L. Hammer,et al.  Impact of soil erosion on production in cropping systems. II. Simulation of production and erosion risks for a wheat cropping system , 1992 .

[48]  C. K. Mutchler,et al.  Revised slope steepness factor for the universal soil loss equation , 1987 .

[49]  M. Nearing,et al.  Handbook of erosion modelling. , 2011 .

[50]  Reshma Parveen,et al.  Integrated Approach of Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and Geographical Information System (GIS) for Soil Loss Risk Assessment in Upper South Koel Basin, Jharkhand , 2012 .

[51]  Scott Menard,et al.  Standards for Standardized Logistic Regression Coefficients , 2011 .

[52]  M. Isabirye,et al.  Prediction of soil erosion in a Lake Victoria basin catchment using a GIS-based Universal Soil Loss model , 2003 .

[53]  Improvement to the prediction of the USLE K factor , 2014 .