USLE–GIS-Based Soil Erosion Assessment: An Overview

Abstract

Soil erosion due to human encroachment in the cultivable or forest land is a main concern today due to ever-increasing demographic pressure. Man-made channel and diversion of the natural river flows have resulted in inappropriate drainage that leads to accelerated soil entrainment. Available means to assess the extent of soil erosion in a particular area usually comprises of the combination of the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and spatial assessment tools. Researchers usually assess soil erosion numerically as well as spatially and validate the output with observed data sets. Rainfall, soil, topography, and ground cover are the key parameters used in distributed soil erosion modelling. Geographic Information System (GIS) software like ArcGIS, ERDAS Imagine, Idrisi, and ILWIS are used to create, store, and analyze the raster layers of USLE factors. Many researchers have contributed to the current state of USLE- and GIS-based distributed soil erosion modelling. Furthermore, many different approaches and techniques have been suggested by researchers to determine USLE factors.