Numerical Modelling of Soil Erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece Using Geographical Information Systems and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE)

Abstract

Soil erosion on Cephalonia Island, Greece has been identified as a predominating land degradation process and a major threat to the sustainability of the agricultural sector. In the present work, the evolution of soil erosion on the island was estimated for the years 2000 and 2012. A simple empirical model, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) for modeling soil erosion, was applied in a Geographical Information System (GIS). The results indicate that the mean annual soil erosion was estimated to be 12.78 t/ha for the year 2000 and 12.28 t/ha for the year 2012. Further, 38.24% of the area of Cephalonia demonstrated moderate to significantly high soil erosion in the year 2012 compared to 40.55% in year 2000. We can assume that during the period 2000–2012, despite influences on the natural environment including forest fires and overgrazing, the combination of vegetation and other protective soil factors contributed to reducing soil erosion.

Keywords

• soil erosion
• RUSLE
• GIS
• Spatial Analysis
• Cephalonia Island
• Greece