Sediment Yield and Soil Loss Estimation using GIS based Soil Erosion Model: A Case Study in the MAN Catchment, Madhya Pradesh, India

Soil erosion is one of the most critical environmental hazards of recent times. It broadly affects to agricultural land and reservoir sedimentation and its consequences are very harmful. In agricultural land, soil erosion affects the fertility of soil and its composition, crop production, soil quality and land quality, yield and crop quality, infiltration rate and water holding capacity, organic matter and plant nutrient and groundwater regimes. In reservoir sedimentation process the consequences of soil erosion process are reduction of the reservoir capacity, life of reservoir, water supply, power generation etc. Based on these two aspects, an attempt has been made to the present study utilizing Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been used in integration with remote sensing and GIS techniques to assess the spatial pattern of annual rate of soil erosion, average annual soil erosion rate and erosion prone areas in the Man catchment. The RUSLE considers several factors such as rainfall, soil erodibility, slope length and steepness, land use and land cover and erosion control practice for soil erosion prediction. In the present study, it is found that average annual soil erosion rate for the Man catchment is 13.01 ton ha-1 year-1, which is higher than that of adopted and recommended values for the project. It has been found that 53% area of the Man catchment has negligible soil erosion rate (less than 2 ton ha-1 year-1). Its spatial distribution found on flat land of upper Man catchment. It has been detected that 26% Area of Man catchment has moderate to extremely severe soil erosion rate (greater than 10 ton ha-1 year-1). Its spatial distribution has been found on undulated topography of the middle Man catchment. It is proposed to treat this area by catchment area treatment activity.