Water Erosion Monitoring and Prediction in Response to the Effects of Climate Change Using RUSLE and SWAT Equations: Case of R’Dom Watershed in Morocco

Abdennabi Alitane,Ali Essahlaoui,Anas El Ouali,Abdellah El Hmaidi,Celray James Chawanda,Amina Kassou,Ann Van Griensven,Anton Van Rompaey,Yassine El Yousfi,Mohammed El Hafyani

doi:10.3390/land11010093

Abstract

Soil erosion is an increasingly issue worldwide, due to several factors including climate variations and humans’ activities, especially in Mediterranean ecosystems. Therefore, the aim of this paper is: (i) to quantify and to predict soil erosion rate for the baseline period (2000–2013) and a future period (2014–2027), using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model in the R’Dom watershed in Morocco, based on the opportunities of Remote Sensing (RS) techniques and Geographical Information System (GIS) geospatial tools. (ii) we based on classical statistical downscaling model (SDSM) for rainfall prediction. Due to the lack of field data, the model results are validated by expert knowledge. As a result of this study, it is found that both agricultural lands and bare lands are most affected by soil erosion. Moreover, it is showed that soil erosion in the watershed was dominated by very low and low erosion. Although the area of very low erosion and low erosion continued to decrease. Hence, we hereby envisage that our contribution will provide a more complete understanding of the soil degradation in this study area and the results of this research could be a crucial reference in soil erosion studies and also may serve as a valuable guidance for watershed management strategies.

Highlights

Soil degradation is a form of soil loss that involves the detachment, transport, sedimentation and deposition of soil from one area to another by the forces of dynamics and the actions of erosive agents.Several factors including human activities and climatic variations such as topography, land cover and management, soil properties, and climate can contribute directly or indirectly in increasing the amount of degraded soil at the catchment scale
Our results showed that the sequential uncertainty fitting version 2 (SUFI-2) gives good results with −1.1% for the Pbais factor and the high values of R2 and the NSE larger than 0.75 and 0.70 respectively
Model were used based on the use of Geographical Information System (GIS) and remote sensing through the exploitations of open source and free of charge data

Summary

Introduction

Several factors including human activities and climatic variations such as topography, land cover and management, soil properties, and climate can contribute directly or indirectly in increasing the amount of degraded soil at the catchment scale. It is noted that the effects of climate change due to increased precipitation and temperature, and land use change due to human activities can lead to an activation of erosion processes [2]. This phenomenon is a worldwide environmental problem, that seriously threatens natural resources such as soil fertility, drainage and siltation [3]. Soil erosion has severe effects on soil and water resources leading to the earth ecosystems disequilibrium

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