MULTI-CRITERIA METHOD (WLC) AND GIS MODELING TO ANALYZE SOIL EROSION VULNERABILITY IN CONSTANTINE CITY (ALGERIA)

Abstract

Land degradation due to soil erosion constitutes a serious threat in the Mediterranean regions, and particularly in Algeria. The objective of this study is to characterized the vulnerability to soil erosion in Constantine city (county seat of the Wilaya of the same name) using a spatial multi-criteria method. The followed approach focused on interaction of several factors (climate, topography, lithology and land cover) Acting erosive process by means of Weighted Linear Combination (WLC) that facilitated the quantification of the global effect of these factors in fine and objective manner. The results show that more than 50% of the city’s surface is exposed to high vulnerability, which requires the implementation of soil erosion control measures.

Keywords

• soil erosion
• factors
• vulnerability
• weighted linear combination wlc