A Study on Estimation of the Amount of Soil Erosion in Small Watershed Based on GIS: A Case Study in the Three Gorge Area of China

Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious environmental and production problem in the Three Gorge Areas (TGA) of China. The objectives of the study were to develop and validate a soil erosion-predicting model based on the revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) in a geographic information systems (GIS) environment. The use of GIS to develop conservation- oriented watershed management strategies in the Taipingxi watershed is presented. The study showed that the serious eroded area (sediment is higher than 50 t/ha) is 10.62%, but contributes 61.55% sediments of all watershed, while no or slightly eroded area (sediment is lower than 10t/ha) is 62.18%, only contributes 3.49% sediments in the watershed. In the watershed, the annual average soil loss rate from relatively flat agricultural land was approximately 21 t/ha, whereas 48 t/ha was found on the cultivated sloping lands, which constitutes a large proportion of soil loss.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jul 25, 2005
Accession Number
ADA450200

Entities

People

  • Liu Yaolin
  • Luo Zhijun

Organizations

  • Wuhan University

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aerial Photographs
  • Algorithms
  • Case Studies
  • Classification
  • Drainage Basins
  • Environment
  • Equations
  • Erosion
  • Experimental Data
  • Geographic Regions
  • Laboratory Procedures
  • North America
  • Photographs
  • Soil Erosion
  • Soils
  • Topographic Maps
  • Weather Stations

Fields of Study

  • Agricultural and Food sciences

Readers

  • Coastal and Marine Engineering/Sediment Transport/Hydraulic Engineering
  • Life Cycle Cost Analysis
  • Mathematics or Statistics