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Decadal Variations in Area under Different Soil Erosion Classes using RUSLE and GIS: Case Studies of River Basins from Western and Eastern Arunachal Pradesh

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Journal of the Geological Society of India

Abstract

This study provides a comparative evaluation of spatio-temporal distribution of soil erosion in Western (Mago Basin) and Eastern (Dibang Basin) basins of Arunachal Pradesh, India as these two basins are vulnerably exposed to soil erosion due to its topographical characteristics of mountainous steep slope and experiences heavy rainfall. The study was carried out for a ten-years period (2003 to 2014) using RUSLE model which encompasses five important factors contributing to soil erosion. Rainfall erosivity (R factor) map was calculated using Climate Prediction Center gridded precipitation. Soil map and soil samples were used to analyze soil erodibility (K factor) map. Slope length and slope steepness (LS factor) maps were computed from SRTM DEM (30 m resolution). MODIS NDVI images were used to obtain cover management (C factor) map. Landuse Landcover map was used to obtained support practice (P factor) map. Higher value in rainfall erosivity and cover management factor was observed in Mago basin which contributed to higher average annual soil loss of 17.423 t ha−1 y−1 in Mago basin and 5.461 t ha−1 y−1 in Dibang basin, whereas the other three factor values were almost the same. The spatial maps showed 56.65% of Mago basin area and 76.27% of Dibang basin area was under the class of slight erosion, with the remaining areas of moderate to severe erosion risk for both the basins. Temporal average soil erosion in Mago basin varied within moderate to very high erosion classes whereas Dibang basin erosion classes varied from slight to moderate. The temporal trend line showed that the overall soil erosion was increasing at an alarming rate for Mago basin whereas a slight increase in Dibang basin was observed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Agricultural Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology, Nirjuli (Itanagar), 791 109, India

    M. Vese, P. Mishra, P. Lowang, S. Assumi, A. Bandyopadhyay & A. Bhadra

  2. North Eastern Regional Centre, National Institute of Hydrology, Sapta Sahid Path, Guwahati, 781 006, India

    W. R. Singh

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  1. M. Vese
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Correspondence to A. Bandyopadhyay.

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Munuvelu Vese is currently a Research Scholar in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, NERIST, Arunachal Pradesh. She is working on Soil Erosion susceptibility map** of Arunachal Pradesh under climate and LULC change scenarios.

Waikhom Rahul Singh is currently working at NERC, NIH, Guwahati as Scientist ‘C’. His areas of interest are hydrological modeling, climate change studies, RS and GIS applications in hydrology, soil and water conservation, drought vulnerability analysis, and Springshed management.

Sulika Assumi has completed her B.Tech in Agricultural Engineering from NERIST in 2020. Part of this paper was her B.Tech final year project.

Aditi Bhadra is working as Professor in Department of Agricultural Engineering, NERIST, Arunachal Pradesh. Her areas of interest are Hydrological Modelling, Reservoir-based Canal Irrigation, Cryosphere, and Soil Water Engineering. She received Indo-US Fellowship for Post-doc Research at UC Merced.

Pooja Mishra is currently working as Research Associate in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, NERIST, Arunachal Pradesh. She received her Ph.D. in 2019. Her areas of interest are Eco-hydrological Modelling, and Application of geospatial technologies in Soil Water Engineering.

Punwang Lowang has completed his M.Tech in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering from NERIST in 2022. Before that, he did his B.Tech in Agricultural Engineering from NERIST in 2020. Part of this paper was his B.Tech final year project.

Arnab Bandyopadhyay is currently working as Professor in the Department of Agricultural Engineering, NERIST, Arunachal Pradesh. His areas of interest are Surface Hydrology, Hydroinformatics, Geoinformatics, and Vulnerability to Climate Change. Earlier he worked as Scientist in National Institute of Hydrology.

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Vese, M., Mishra, P., Singh, W.R. et al. Decadal Variations in Area under Different Soil Erosion Classes using RUSLE and GIS: Case Studies of River Basins from Western and Eastern Arunachal Pradesh. J Geol Soc India 99, 1725–1737 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12594-023-2528-1

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