Modelling Post‐Tree‐Harvesting Soil Erosion and Sediment Deposition Potential in the Turano River Basin (Italian Central Apennine)

Abstract

AbstractThe overall aim of the paper is the assessment of human‐induced accelerated soil erosion processes due to forest harvesting in the Upper Turano River Basin. The spatio‐temporal pattern of soil erosion processes was investigated by means of a spatially distributed modelling approach. We used the Unit Stream Power Erosion and Deposition model. During the soil erosion‐modelling phase, the forest cover changes were mapped via remote sensing. According to this operation, the forest sectors exploited for timber production amounted to about 2781 ha or 9·9% of the wooded surface from March 2001 to August 2011. In this period, the average annual net soil erosion rate estimated by means of modelling operations totalled 0·83 Mg ha−1 y−1 for all the forest lands. The net soil erosion rate predicted for the disturbed forest lands is significantly higher than the average value for the entire forest (5·34 Mg ha−1 y−1). Estimates indicate a soil loss equal to 8521 Mg y−1 (net soil erosion 0·34 Mg ha−1 y−1) in the undisturbed forest area (254 km2), whereas the 27·8 km2 of disturbed forest area could potentially lose 14 846 Mg y−1. The paper shows that a disturbed forest sector could produce about 74·2% more net erosion than a nine times larger, undisturbed forest sector. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.