Abstract
The Lancang–Mekong River basin, as an important transboundary river in Southeast Asia, is challenged by rapid socio-economic development, especially the construction of hydropower dams. Furthermore, substantial factors, such as terrain, rainfall, soil properties and agricultural activity, affect and are highly susceptible to soil erosion and sediment yield. This study aimed to estimate average annual soil erosion in terms of spatial distribution and sediment deposition by using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) and GIS techniques. This study also applied remote sensing and available data sources for soil erosion analysis. Annual soil erosion in most parts of the study area range from 700 to 10,000 t/km2/y with a mean value of 5350 t/km2/y. Approximately 45% of the total area undergoes moderate erosion. Moreover, the assessments of sediment deposition and erosion using the modified RUSLE and the GIS techniques indicate high sediment erosion along the flow direction of the mainstream, from the upper Mekong River to the Mekong Delta. The northern part of the upper Mekong River and the central and southern parts of the lower Mekong River are the most vulnerable to the increase in soil erosion rates, indicating sediment deposition.
Highlights
Introduction84% of the degraded lands around the world are associated with the most relevant issues about the environment with water and wind as the main agents of erosion [7,11,12,13]
This research aimed to develop methods to calculate sediment deposition and erosion based on the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model and GIS techniques and, subsequently, evaluate the impact of soil erosion on hydropower dams in the Lancang–Mekong River basin
The spatial pattern of soil erosion occurrence in the north part of upper Mekong River basin is generally consistent with the findings of [10,49,50,53,79], but some spatial soil erosion results differ in other areas, especially in the lower part of Mekong River
Summary
84% of the degraded lands around the world are associated with the most relevant issues about the environment with water and wind as the main agents of erosion [7,11,12,13]. Soil erosion by human activities is reportedly. Approximately 80% of agricultural areas around the world face high to extreme erosion, and the amount of generated sediments can worsen the turbidity of rivers and increase further the concentration of pollutants [24,25,26]. Soil erosion and sediment yield can affect humans and the environment severely if sediment quantity exceeds the standard measurement value of aquatic organisms
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