Prioritization of Land Patches for Rehabilitation of Potential Water Soil Erosion Effects (Case Study: Gharesoo Watershed)

Soil erosion is a natural process that has become a major global environmental threat as a result of human activities such as irrational land conversion and vegetation degradation. The purpose of this research is to model spatial distribution of likely soil erosion by water in Gharesoo watershed, assess the impacts of land use and slope on erosion rate, and identify soil erosion hotspots and prioritize them. For prioritization, the affected land patches with the highest potential and the effects of landuse and slope were studied. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used in conjunction with Geographic Information system (GIS) to model soil erosion. The average soil erosion in the watershed was 18.65 t ha-1 yr-1. The slight, moderate and severe erosion classes encompass 62%, 26% and 12% of the watershed, respectively. Assessing the impacts of land use and slope confirms importance of interaction between these factors in increasing soil erosion, especially in agricultural areas with steep slopes. Zonal land suitability was used to delineate 15 patches as hotspots of soil erosion based on the RUSLE outcome. The results of this research reveals location and priority of land patches for implementation of mitigation measures such as terracing and vegetation rehabilitation, along with land use planning to reduce erosion and prevent it's negative impacts on environment and economy.