Abstract
BackgroundAssessment of soil loss rates is crucial to sustainably enhance the benefits of land resources and diminish the adverse impacts of land degradation thereby areas requiring immediate soil erosion management practices can be identified. The study aimed to examine the impacts of land cover dynamics on the spatiotemporal patterns of erosion hotspots. RUSLE factors were produced using GIS and remote sensing techniques.ResultsThe RUSLE model adapted to Ethiopian conditions was run for 2004 and 2014 where input data layers were overlaid. The results of the model showed clear patterns of changes characterized by gradual shifting of one erosion soil loss severity class into next higher class. There was a net increase in the total soil loss largely under the very high, low and very low soil loss severity classes by 8%, 21% and 9% despite a decline in other severity classes, respectively. It also revealed that more than two-third of the catchment has experienced soil losses rates higher than the tolerable value reported for Ethiopia over which agriculturists should be concerned.ConclusionsTherefore, the observed soil loss rate and sediment yield in the study catchment would lead to further ecological deterioration unless site-specific participatory watershed management practices are employed.
Highlights
Assessment of soil loss rates is crucial to sustainably enhance the benefits of land resources and diminish the adverse impacts of land degradation thereby areas requiring immediate soil erosion management practices can be identified
The estimated average annual soil loss was increased by 16% in this study period, i.e., from 49 to 57 t ha−1 year−1 between 2004 and 2014, respectively
One of the major factors for the spatiotemporal variability of soil loss is attributed to land cover changes (LCCs) following the expansion of agricultural practices in high erosionprone soil, overgrazing and deforestation
Summary
Assessment of soil loss rates is crucial to sustainably enhance the benefits of land resources and diminish the adverse impacts of land degradation thereby areas requiring immediate soil erosion management practices can be identified. The removal of vegetation cover and associated expansion of the traditional farming system in the Ethiopian highlands are the major causes of perturbations in the hydrological cycle and triggered soil erosion processes (Mekuria 2005). Soil erosion has become a threat to sustainable agricultural production and water quality (Prasannakumar et al 2012). It is one of the physical processes of land degradation widely spread in the highlands of Ethiopia (Hurni 1988). The severity of soil erosion increases on steeper topographic position and poor vegetation cover (Abate 2011)
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