Identification of soil erosion-prone areas for effective mitigation measures using a combined approach of morphometric analysis and geographical information system

Abstract

The current worldwide effects of soil erosion are a result of natural and human activities, and it had serious consequences on ecosystems, agriculture, and water quality in the watershed. As a result, quantifying the physical characteristics of a watershed can be used to identify areas that are more susceptible to soil erosion and require immediate mitigation measures. This study prioritizes the fourteen sub-watersheds in the Dabus Watershed, Ethiopia using a Geographical Information System based on the variety of parameters for implementing short and long-term effective watershed management practices. For each sub-watershed (SW), the compound parameter was calculated from different morphometric parameters and used to rank the areas. The findings show that SW1, SW7, and SW10 are contributing very high soil erosion in the study area with its 2390.75 km2, 2555.77 km2, and 1642.71 km2 covering area; however, SW2, SW8, SW9, and SW14 are the areas lowly degraded due its soil erosion is low. Thus, mitigation measures such as contouring, terracing, filter strips, and other structural/non-structural effective approaches should be implemented in the area where high soil erosion was contributed.

Keywords

• Soil erosion
• Morphometric parameters
• Prioritization
• Dabus River watershed
• Geographical information system