Geospatial Modelling and Mapping of Soil Erosion Using GEE Platform: A Case Study from Budhabalanga River Basin, Odisha, India
摘要
Soil erosion impacts the agricultural productivity on which Indian economy depends to a larger extent, making regular assessment of soil erosion crucial. In this chapter, soil loss dynamics of the Budhabalanga river basin has been estimated with geospatial modelling technique. Both seasonal and annual spatio-temporal variation of potential soil loss for Budhabalanga river basin located in eastern Odisha, India is assessed. The yearly mean soil loss estimated as 54.51 ton/hac/year in 2017 using RUSLE model. The hotspots of soil loss are located near the hilly region of Similipal complex. A novel severity-based soil loss classification scheme has demarcated 17.4% of the Basin area as prone to severe erosion spreading over a region of 81,000 hectares. Further, Budhabalanga basin has 2.40%, 4.92%, 11.23%, 26.17%, 28.19% and 9.63% area of very high, high, moderately high, moderate, slightly more and slight, soil erosion potential classes, respectively. Concave nature of hypsometric curve indicates the old stage of basin development with very high erosion rate. Further high drainage density (55–78 km/sq km) and high stream frequency (113–124 Streams per sq. km) highlighted the region with high basin dissection which coinciding with zone of high to very high soil loss. This study can be used as valuable inputs for planning, management, and implementation of soil conservation strategies to combat with soil degradation and desertification locally for the river basin.