Soil erosion estimation by RUSLE model using GIS and remote sensing techniques: A case study of the tertiary hilly regions in Bangladesh from 2017 to 2021.

Abstract

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental threats in Bangladesh, especially in the tertiary hilly regions located in the northeastern and southeastern parts of the country. The revised universal soil loss equation(RUSLE), combined with Geographic Information System, is a reliable methodology to estimate the potential soil loss in an area. This research aimed to use the RUSLE model to estimate the soil erosion in the tertiary hill tracts of Bangladesh from 2017 to 2021. The erosivity factor was determined from the annual average precipitation, and erodibility factor was estimated from FAO soil database. The elevation model was used to analyze slope length steepness factors, while land use land cover was used to compute cover management factor. Lastly, land use and elevation were integrated to estimate the support practice factor. Results revealed that the potential mean annual soil loss in 2017, 2019, and 2021 was 68.77, 69.84, and 83.7 ton ha-1year-1 from northeastern and 101.72, 107.83, and 114.04 ton ha-1year-1 from southeastern region, respectively. Although total annual rainfall was high in 2017, soil loss was found higher in 2021which indicates the impact of land use change on erosion. This investigation will help the policymakers to identify the erosion-vulnerable areasin the hill tracts that require immediate soil conservation practices. Additionally, there is no latest field-based data available for the countryfor the validation, and hence, it is recommended to conduct field-based studies for validating the model-derived results and creating a reliable soil erosion database for the country.