Soil Erosion Risk Assessment

FPE 3243 Mohd bin Mahmud @ Mansor FIAT

Introduction
What is soil erosion? A. The washing away of soil by flow of water B. The process by which soil and rock are removed from the Earth's surface by natural processes such as wind or water flow, and then transported and deposited in other locations.

Introduction
USA: 10 times faster than the natural replenishment China &India: 3040 times faster 30% of the worlds arable land has become unproductive.

Introduction
What causes soil erosion?
Inappropriate agricultural practices, Deforestation Overgrazing Construction activities

So what?

So What?
60% of eroded soil ends up in rivers, streams and lakes flooding and contamination Soil cannot to store water or support plant growth - biodiversity?

ASSESSING SOIL EROSION RISK

Approaches

A. Expert based method B. Model based method

Expert Based Method

Not standardized Might differ from one expert to another based on:
Factors related to land cover The soils susceptibility to surface crusting Slope angle and erodibility

Model Based Method

designed to predict:
annual soil losses single storm losses (event-based).

depends on:
purpose for which it is intended the available data, time and money

Model Based Method

SEMMED - Morgan and Morgan (1984) Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) - Wischmeier & Smith (1978) Input from:
Standard meteorological data Soil maps Multi-temporal satellite imagery Digital elevation models And a limited amount of field data.

Cover large areas - no extensive field surveys.

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)

Which model input data availability Empirical equation: Where:
A : Mean (annual) soil loss R : Rainfall erosivity factor K : Soil erodibility factor L : Slope factor S : Slope length factor C : Cover management factor

A = R K L S C

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)

R: Rainfal erosivity factor
By summing the product of total storm energy (E) and the maximum 30-minute intensity (I30). readily available rainfall figures like annual rainfall

K: Soil erodibility factor

the rate of soil loss per unit of R influence of soil properties on soil loss during storm events

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE)

L: Slope factor and S: Slope length factors
Effect of topography on soil erosion. Can be estimated from a digital elevation model (DEM)

C: Cover management factor

Second most important Ratio of soil loss from land with a specific vegetation to the corresponding soil loss from continuous fallow depends on vegetation cover and management practices.

Case Study

PENANG (Pradhan et al, 2012)

Study Area

Study Area
Covers 285 km2 The slope of the area ranges from 25 to as much as 87 Consists of coastal plains, hills and mountains. Temperature ranges between 29C and 32C (highest between April to June) Mean relative humidity between 65% and 70% (lowest in June, July and September) Rainfall averages between 2,670 and 6,240 mm; and 58.6 and 240 mm

 Land use and land cover pattern:

Peat swamp forest Plantation forest Inland forest Scrub Grassland and ex-mining area Urban land Water body and barren land

USLE in the case of Penang

R factor
Obtained from the Bayan Lepas weather station (MMD). The monthly average rainfall data of 20 years (1985 2004)

Using (2) formula, R factor is 652.81 MJmm/ha.h.

USLE in the case of Penang

K factor
Soil map (JPS) was considered as a basic layer to derive the K factor layer. Converted into raster format using spatial analyst tool in Arc Info 9.2. Then, the value field of the soil layer was reclassified by respective values of K factor, using the reclassify tool of Arc Info 9.2 Subsequently raster layer of K factor was generated (Fig. 2). Considering different properties of soil such as texture, organic matter and permeability, K values were obtained.

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

L and S terrain Factor
The amount of erosion increases as the slope length increases (why?) was calculated using the ArcInfo Spatial Analyst tool. The digital elevation model, drawn from 10-m contour intervals and survey-based points (spot heights) from 1:25,000 topographical sheets

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

C factor
It was derived from a land use/cover classification from the satellite data SPOT 5 In 2010 - Landsat ETM+ data of 10 m res.

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

P factor
Conservation practices No data available Assumed as 1

RESULT

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

USLE in the case of Penang

Allow policy makers to:
Know the maximum erosion that can take place in an area Generate scenarios with changes in land use/cover for better conservation management.

USLE in the case of Penang

Replanting of trees, shrubs, grass and other cover vegetation in exposed areas on hill slopes Stricter monitoring of deforestation and better Enforcement of the law must be carried out Better maintenance of roads, highways and other communication structures in hilly areas Ensure that developers build retaining walls after cutting hill slopes Relocate squatters on hill slopes and regenerate these areas with forest and or proper development planning with respect to hill land areas.

CONCLUSION

 Penang is very susceptible to soil erosion and landslides Results of correlation showed an agreement between the soil erosion intensity map and landslide events data.

Questions?
Thank you.