Mapping Soil Erosion using RUSLE Equation over India

Soil erosion is one of the most significant environmental concerns throughout the world. For a country like India, where the agriculture sector is the primary contributor to the economy, erosion becomes more threatening. More than 50% of the total geographical area of the country is affected due to soil erosion. Extensive erosion in hilly areas might also lead to natural hazards like landslides. That is why mapping soil erosion and calculating its distribution throughout the country is crucial for planning and implementing soil conservation measures. Soil erosion is a function of rainfall intensity, soil classes, crop management practices, and topographical factors. Estimating erosion for a big country like India requires extensive work considering the parameters associated with erosion. Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been used globally for the estimation of soil erosion due to its simplicity, limited input data required, and better accuracy. In this study, the RUSLE model had been used for estimating long-term soil erosion per year over the national boundary of India. Rainfall erosivity and soil erodibility datasets were extracted from IRED (Indian Rainfall Erosivity dataset) and ISED (Indian Soil Erodibility dataset), respectively. Topographic factor (LS-factor) was estimated using SRTM (Shutter Radar Topographic Mission) DEM; support practice (P-factor) and crop management (C-factor) were calculated using LULC (Land use and Land cover) dataset over India. Annual soil loss was further estimated by multiplying these five factors to get the spatial distribution of soil erosion at a composite resolution of 250 m over India. This will be the first such assessment of soil erosion at the national scale for India. This study will be beneficial for the experts and specialists in the soil and water conservation sector for better management of soil erosion-related problems.