Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques
Soil erosion is a serious environmental challenge which persistently diminishes available land resources globally. The impact of soil erosion is more severe at hilly regions where various techniques are deployed to evaluate its risk levels. However, the traditional approach of estimating the...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MMU Press
2020-11-01
|
| Series: | Journal of Engineering Technology and Applied Physics |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://journals.mmupress.com/index.php/jetap/article/view/75/291 |
| _version_ | 1797851001617645568 |
|---|---|
| author | N. M. Nasidi A. Wayayok A. F. Abdullah M. S. M. Kassim |
| author_facet | N. M. Nasidi A. Wayayok A. F. Abdullah M. S. M. Kassim |
| author_sort | N. M. Nasidi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Soil erosion is a serious environmental challenge which persistently diminishes available land resources globally. The impact of soil erosion is more severe at hilly regions where various techniques are deployed to evaluate its risk levels. However, the traditional approach of estimating the magnitude of erosion is tedious, costly, and considerably time consuming. This study was intended to assess the risk associated with soil erosion at hilly areas of Cameron Highlands through geospatial means. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 5m resolution from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR) was utilized to generate the slope in the highlands. Soil erosion rates was estimated using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), while information about land use and cover were sourced from relevant government agencies. Inversed Distance Weighted (IDW) method of spatial interpolation was applied to predict the values of unknown pixels. The analysis shows that, there is 217.5 km2of the highlands which is greater than 45-degreeaccounted for about 30.5% of the total land area. Moreover, erosion risk assessment indicated that 66.3%, 11.4%, 11.7% and 10.8% are respectively classified as very low, law, moderate and high susceptible to soil erosion. In general, the risk of soil erosion is relatively low and could be attributed to dense vegetation coverage within the study water shed despite the steep slopes where it was found to be at very high risk to soil erosion susceptibility. However, there is need to deploy best management practices to reduce the effect of soil disturbances at hilly areas and prevent excessive soil loss in future. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:09:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e088d9a64d37416a895e8a048875e9cc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2682-8383 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T19:09:42Z |
| publishDate | 2020-11-01 |
| publisher | MMU Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Engineering Technology and Applied Physics |
| spelling | doaj.art-e088d9a64d37416a895e8a048875e9cc2023-04-07T02:08:19ZengMMU PressJournal of Engineering Technology and Applied Physics2682-83832020-11-01x1161310.33093/jetap.2020.x1.2Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial TechniquesN. M. Nasidi0A. Wayayok1A. F. Abdullah2M. S. M. Kassim3Department of Agricultural and Environmental Engineering, Bayero UniversityInternational Institute of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Universiti Putra MalaysiaInternational Institute of Aquaculture and Aquatic Sciences, Universiti Putra MalaysiaFaculty of Engineering, Universiti Putra MalaysiaSoil erosion is a serious environmental challenge which persistently diminishes available land resources globally. The impact of soil erosion is more severe at hilly regions where various techniques are deployed to evaluate its risk levels. However, the traditional approach of estimating the magnitude of erosion is tedious, costly, and considerably time consuming. This study was intended to assess the risk associated with soil erosion at hilly areas of Cameron Highlands through geospatial means. The Digital Elevation Model (DEM) with 5m resolution from Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (IfSAR) was utilized to generate the slope in the highlands. Soil erosion rates was estimated using Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE), while information about land use and cover were sourced from relevant government agencies. Inversed Distance Weighted (IDW) method of spatial interpolation was applied to predict the values of unknown pixels. The analysis shows that, there is 217.5 km2of the highlands which is greater than 45-degreeaccounted for about 30.5% of the total land area. Moreover, erosion risk assessment indicated that 66.3%, 11.4%, 11.7% and 10.8% are respectively classified as very low, law, moderate and high susceptible to soil erosion. In general, the risk of soil erosion is relatively low and could be attributed to dense vegetation coverage within the study water shed despite the steep slopes where it was found to be at very high risk to soil erosion susceptibility. However, there is need to deploy best management practices to reduce the effect of soil disturbances at hilly areas and prevent excessive soil loss in future.https://journals.mmupress.com/index.php/jetap/article/view/75/291rainfall erosivitysoil erodibilityifsargisusle |
| spellingShingle | N. M. Nasidi A. Wayayok A. F. Abdullah M. S. M. Kassim Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques Journal of Engineering Technology and Applied Physics rainfall erosivity soil erodibility ifsar gis usle |
| title | Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques |
| title_full | Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques |
| title_fullStr | Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques |
| title_full_unstemmed | Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques |
| title_short | Susceptibility to Soil Erosion and Risk Assessment at Hilly Farms Using Geospatial Techniques |
| title_sort | susceptibility to soil erosion and risk assessment at hilly farms using geospatial techniques |
| topic | rainfall erosivity soil erodibility ifsar gis usle |
| url | https://journals.mmupress.com/index.php/jetap/article/view/75/291 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT nmnasidi susceptibilitytosoilerosionandriskassessmentathillyfarmsusinggeospatialtechniques AT awayayok susceptibilitytosoilerosionandriskassessmentathillyfarmsusinggeospatialtechniques AT afabdullah susceptibilitytosoilerosionandriskassessmentathillyfarmsusinggeospatialtechniques AT msmkassim susceptibilitytosoilerosionandriskassessmentathillyfarmsusinggeospatialtechniques |