Assessment of soil erosion risk in a typical Mediterranean environment using a high resolution RUSLE approach (Portofino promontory, NW-Italy)

I Rellini,C Scopesi,S Olivari,M Firpo,M Maerker

doi:10.1080/17445647.2019.1599452

I Rellini, C Scopesi + Show 3 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2019.1599452

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Abstract

ABSTRACT Particularly the Liguria region in Northern Italy is highly affected by soil erosion processes. This study was conducted in the Portofino promontory in eastern Liguria, to predict potential annual soil loss using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). Moreover, we evaluate the relative accuracy of the predictions at detailed scale, using high resolution spatial information for model calibration. The RUSLE factors were calculated for the study area based on terrain survey data and rain gauge measurements. The results were plotted on a 1:10,000 scale soil erosion map and subsequently compared with the European soil loss estimation method (RUSLE2015) developed by the European Joined Research Centre. This study shows that the RUSLE2015 model can be applied in a typical Mediterranean environment such as the Portofino promontory. However, the accuracy of the single factors we calculated using high resolution data sets might improve the results substantially and thus, also model efficiency.

Highlights

Water erosion represents one of the most important and widespread causes of soil degradation in Europe (Alcamo, Florke, & Maerker, 2007)
This paper illustrates the application of the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model in the Portofino regional park, a typical Mediterranean environment in Liguria Region, following several methodological improvements of the new Joint Research Centre (JRC) modeling assessments such as the modeling of rainfall erosivity (R factor) based on rainfall intensity, frequency, amount and duration (Borrelli, Diodato, & Panagos, 2016; Panagos, Borrelli, & Meusburger, 2015b)
Where A is the estimate of average annual soil loss caused by sheet and rill erosion; R is the rainfall erosivity factor (MJ mm ha−1 h−1 year−1); K is the soil erodibility factor (t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1) which is a measure of the susceptibility of soil to be eroded under standard conditions; LS is the topographic factor, derived from a combination of slope steepness and specific catchment area; C is the cover and management factor; P is the support practice factor

Summary

Introduction

Water erosion represents one of the most important and widespread causes of soil degradation in Europe (Alcamo, Florke, & Maerker, 2007). This paper illustrates the application of the RUSLE model in the Portofino regional park, a typical Mediterranean environment in Liguria Region (north-western Italy), following several methodological improvements of the new JRC modeling assessments such as the modeling of rainfall erosivity (R factor) based on rainfall intensity, frequency, amount and duration (Borrelli, Diodato, & Panagos, 2016; Panagos, Borrelli, & Meusburger, 2015b). The results of this detailed study Main Map were compared with those from RUSLE2015 for Europe (Panagos et al, 2015a), in order to test models’ suitability. The difficulties associated with calibrating and validating spatially distributed soil erosion models are, to a large extent, due to the large spatial and temporal variability of soil erosion phenomena and the uncertainty associated with the input parameter values used by models to predict these processes (Jetten, Govers, & Hessel, 2003)

Study area

Model and parameter estimation

Findings

Conclusion