Estimation of soil erosion risk within a small mountainous sub-watershed in Kerala, India, using Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and geo-information technology

A comprehensive methodology that integrates Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques was adopted to determine the soil erosion vulnerability of a forested mountainous sub-watershed in Kerala, India. The spatial pattern of annual soil erosion rate was obtained by integrating geo-environmental variables in a raster based GIS method. GIS data layers including, rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodability (K), slope length and steepness (LS), cover management (C) and conservation practice (P) factors were computed to determine their effects on average annual soil loss in the area. The resultant map of annual soil erosion shows a maximum soil loss of 17.73 t h-1 y-1 with a close relation to grass land areas, degraded forests and deciduous forests on the steep side-slopes (with high LS). The spatial erosion maps generated with RUSLE method and GIS can serve as effective inputs in deriving strategies for land planning and management in the environmentally sensitive mountainous areas.