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An integrated approach of GIS, RUSLE and AHP to model soil erosion in West Kameng watershed, Arunachal Pradesh

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Abstract

Soil erosion has always been a major environmental problem in many parts of the world including the northeastern region of India. An increase in the rate of soil erosion has tremendous implications on land degradation, biodiversity loss, productivity, etc. Hence, assessment of soil erosion hazard and its spatial distribution is essential to serve as a baseline data for effective control measures. The present study uses revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) and analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach integrated with geospatial technology for modeling soil erosion hazard zone of West Kameng watershed of Arunachal Pradesh, Northeast India. The assessment showed that the erodibility factor of soil ranged between 0 and 0.38 t/ha/MJ/mm and slope length and steepness factor increases with increase in slope angle. Lower normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values depict vegetation cover and higher values represent the rocky area or barren land. Spatial distribution of conservation support practice on soil loss indicated the variability (0–1) where lower value represents the higher conservation practice. The predicted average soil erosion rate was 124.21 t/ha/Yr. Normalized eigenvector values ranged between 0.03 and 0.20. The areas with more slope, relative relief, drainage density, lineament density, and frequency have shown comparatively higher eigenvector values, and it has been noticed that the strength of these eigenvectors reduces with a decrease in the values of the parameters. The spatial soil erosion potential map was delineated using eight geo-environmental variables (LULC, geomorphology, slope, relative relief, drainage density, drainage frequency, lineament density, and lineament frequency). The soil hazard map showed that the moderate soil erosion has the maximum (57.71%) area cover followed by high erosion class (26.09%) which depicts that most of the watershed areas are moderate to high vulnerable to soil erosion. The efficiency of the AHP was validated applying area under curve (AUC) method which result 84.90% accuracy in the present study. Based on the findings, it is being recommended that present watershed requires adequate control procedures on a priority basis to conserve soil resources and reduce flood events and siltation of water bodies.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi for partial financial support through AICP carbon sequestration project. We are also thankful to the Director, NERIST and Head, Department of Forestry, NERIST for extending all laboratory facilities and Department of Environment and Forest, Govt. of Arunachal Pradesh for all logistic and field support during the course of this study. Authors are also thankful to all free database and satellite data providers whose data were downloaded from their web portal and used in the present study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forestry, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed-to-be University), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, 791 109, India

    Biswajit Das, Reetashree Bordoloi, Lobsang Tashi Thungon, Ashish Paul & Om Prakash Tripathi

  2. Department of Agriculture Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed-to-be University), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, 791 109, India

    Pankaj K Pandey

  3. Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (Deemed-to-be University), Nirjuli, Arunachal Pradesh, 791 109, India

    Madhusudhan Mishra

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  1. Biswajit Das
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Correspondence to Om Prakash Tripathi.

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Communicated by Arkoprovo Biswas

Corresponding editor: Arkoprovo Biswas

A Tribute to our Beloved Teacher Late Prof. R S Tripathi.

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Das, B., Bordoloi, R., Thungon, L.T. et al. An integrated approach of GIS, RUSLE and AHP to model soil erosion in West Kameng watershed, Arunachal Pradesh. J Earth Syst Sci 129, 94 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-020-1356-6

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