Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3
Environ Earth Sci (2017) 76:765
DOI 10.1007/s12665-017-7109-4
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Integration of geospatial technologies with RUSLE for analysis
of land use/cover change impact on soil erosion: case study in Rib
watershed, north‑western highland Ethiopia
Desalew Meseret Moges
1
· H. Gangadhara Bhat
2
Received: 25 April 2017 / Accepted: 4 November 2017
© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2017
from cropland with mean annual soil loss amount increased
to 41.38 t ha
−1
year
−1
in 2016 from 26.60 in 1986. Moreo-
ver, the most successive erosion problems were detected in
eastern, south-eastern and northern parts of the watershed.
Therefore, the results of this study can help identify the soil
erosion hot spots and conservation priority areas at local
and regional levels.
Keywords Soil erosion · Land use/cover change ·
RUSLE · GIS · Remote sensing · Ethiopia
Introduction
Land degradation caused by soil erosion is one of the most
widespread and critical environmental problems in the world
(Zuazo and Pleguezuelo 2008; Ganasri and Ramesh 2016;
FAO and ITPS 2015; Li et al. 2014; Sharma et al. 2011).
At a time when agricultural efforts are focused on increas-
ing food production, soil erosion is worldwide increasing
(Pimentel 1993). It is estimated that about 75 billion tons of
soil is removed from the world’s terrestrial ecosystem due
to erosion (Dabral et al. 2008), which is approximately one-
sixth of the world’s total land size (Hurni et al. 2010). The
rate and extent of soil erosion is severe in the world’s agri-
cultural regions (Pimentel 1993) where soil is being washed
10–40 times faster than it is being replenished (Pradhan et al.
2012).
The fact that soil is almost non-renewable resource over
the human time-scale makes soil erosion a critical problem
(Bewket and Teferi 2009). It requires at least 500 years
for the formation of 2.5 cm of topsoil under tropical and
temperate agricultural conditions (Pimentel 1993). As a
result, soil erosion assessment has gained a great attention
in twentyfirst century due to its importance as a base for
Abstract In recent times, soil erosion interlocked with
land use and land cover (LULC) changes has become one
of the most important environmental issues in developing
countries. Evaluation of this complex interaction between
LULC change and soil erosion is indispensable in land use
planning and conservation works. This paper analysed the
impact of LULC change on soil erosion in the north-western
highland Ethiopia over the period 1986–2016. Rib water-
shed, the area with dynamic LULC change and severe soil
erosion problem, was selected as a case study site. Inte-
grated approach that combined geospatial technologies with
revised universal soil loss equation model was utilized to
evaluate the spatio-temporal dynamics of soil loss over the
study period. Pixel-based overlay of soil erosion intensity
maps with LULC maps was carried out to understand the
change in soil loss due to LULC change. Results showed
that the annual soil loss in the study area varied from 0 to
236.5 t ha
−1
year
−1
(tons per hectare per year) in 1986 and
0–807 t ha
−1
year
−1
in 2016. The average annual soil loss for
the entire watershed was estimated about 40 t ha
−1
year
−1
in
1986 comparing with 68 t ha
−1
year
−1
in 2016, a formidable
increase. Soil erosion potential that was estimated to exceed
the average soil loss tolerance level increased from 34.5% in
1986 to 66.8% in 2016. Expansion of agricultural land at the
expense of grassland and shrubland was the most detrimen-
tal factor for severe soil erosion in the watershed. The most
noticeable change in soil erosion intensity was observed
* Desalew Meseret Moges
mdessalew@gmail.com
1
Department of Biosciences, Mangalore University,
Mangalore 574199, India
2
Department of Marine Geology and Geoinformatics,
Mangalore University, Mangalore 574199, India