Application of Rusle Model to Mapping the Soil Erosion Risk in Gebel Watershed

Salim, Jihad Ibrahim; Mohamad Ali, Haliz S.; Haji, Ghariba Y.; Mohamad, Vaman M.

doi:10.33899/earth.2024.143444.1146

	Application of Rusle Model to Mapping the Soil Erosion Risk in Gebel Watershed
Iraqi National Journal of Earth Science (INJES)
Article 9, Volume 25, Issue 1, January 2025, Pages 123-136 PDF (1.51 M)
Document Type: Research Paper
DOI: 10.33899/earth.2024.143444.1146
Authors
Jihad Ibrahim Salim^* ¹; Haliz S. Mohamad Ali²; Ghariba Y. Haji³; Vaman M. Mohamad²
¹Department of Forestry, College of Agricultural Engineering Science, University of Duhok, Duhok, Iraq
²Department of Forestry, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, Duhok, Iraq
³Department of Recreation and Ecotourism, College of Agricultural Engineering Sciences, University of Duhok, Duhok, Iraq
Abstract
The study has been carried out to mapping the risk of soil erosion in the Gebel watershed (Duhok Governorate, Kurdistan Region, Iraq) using the RUSLE model. All RUSLE factors (R, K, LS, C, and P) are computed as a raster’s maps and used to calculate soil loss in ArcGIS software. The (R) factor map is computed from rainfall data and has a value ranging between (82.5 – 178) MJ mm ha⁻¹ h⁻¹ year⁻¹. Where the (K) factor is estimated from soil sampling, it has values ranging between (0.011 – 0.023) t h MJ^-1 mm^-1. However, the (LS) factor values range between (0 – 1520). Based on NDVI (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index), a satellite image (LANDSAT 8) is employed to map the (C) factor, which has values ranging from 0.389 to 0.446. The average annual soil loss the in-study area is 1.52 which ranges from 0 to 1310 . According to FAO and UNEP. (1984), soil erosion is classified into seven classes, and 76.17% of the total area has very slight soil erosion, and 19.45% of the watershed area has slight soil erosion, while the moderate soil loss rate is covers 3.19% of the total area. Finally, the other classes (High, Very High, Extremely, and Extremely High) represent 1.22% of the total area but have a large amount of soil loss (12708.87) ton per year. The results clearly show that most significant factor affecting soil loss (A) is LS factor, which has a very high significant correlation with soil loss (R²=1)
Keywords
Erosion; RUSLE; Remote Sensing; NDVI; Gebel watershed

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