Abstract

Land use change is known as one of the main influencing factors on soil erosion and sediment production processes. The objective of the article is to study on how land use change impacts on soil erosion by using Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) as a process-oriented soil erosion model. The study has been conducted under land use changes within the period of 1991–2014 in the Talar watershed located in northern Iran. The GIS environment was used to prepare the required maps including Digital Elevation Model (DEM), geology, land use, soil, and drainage network. The climatology data including average annual precipitation and air temperature as well as the volume of torrential rain were extracted from the data of meteorological stations located inside and around the study watershed. The results indicates that, within the period of 1991–2014, the forest area decreased by 12,478.04 ha (6%), while the other land uses including rainfed agriculture, rangeland, irrigated agriculture, and residential area increased by 7248.25, 4481.05, 476.00, and 273.95 ha, respectively. The estimated outflow with 100 year return interval was 432.14 m3 s−1 in 1991, which increased to 446.91 m3 s−1 in 2014. It can be concluded that the probability of larger and/or more frequent floods waves in the Talar River is expected to increase. In addition, the amount of production of erosion material (gross erosion) in the watershed increased from 1,918,186 to 2,183,558 m3 yr−1, and the real soil losses per year (sediment yield) of the watershed increased from 440,482.4 to 501,421.3 m3 yr−1. The results clearly emphasized how the lack of appropriate land management and planning leads to increase the maximum flow discharge and sediment yield of the watershed.

Highlights

  • IntroductionSediment yield and soil erosion are two main constraints on sustainable management of water resources and soil [2]

  • The main purpose of this study is the application of the Intensity of Erosion and Outflow (IntErO) model to evaluate the effects of land use changes for two periods (1991–2014) on soil erosion and sediment yield in Talar watershed in Iran

  • The comparison of land use change between these two periods indicates that the forest decreased by 12,478.04 ha (6%), whereas rainfed agriculture and rangeland increased by 3.49 and 2.18%, respectively (Table 3)

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Summary

Introduction

Sediment yield and soil erosion are two main constraints on sustainable management of water resources and soil [2]. The quantification of these processes is crucial to design any scientifically based soil and water conservation plan and integrated land management [3,4]. Many studies have shown that there is a significant relationship between land use change and soil erosion [8,9]. Land use change may result in an increase of sediment and nutrient supply to rivers and may affect the water balance in the watershed and its variability, which must be assessed on a local scale [10]. The use of soil erosion and sediment yield models at watershed scale is globally raising the interest of specialists

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