Soil losses in the State of Rondônia, Brazil

Abstract

In the state of Rondônia, deforestation, and inadequate soil use and management have intensified the water erosion process, causing degradation of agricultural land. Modeling is a tool that can assist in the adoption of targeted and effective measures for soil and water conservation in the region. In this context, the objective of the research was to model soil losses due to water erosion in the state of Rondônia using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). The parameters related to rain erosivity, relief, erodibility, and soil cover, as well as the conservation practices of the state of Rondônia, were considered. The modeling steps were performed with the aid of the Geographic Information System. Results were validated with data of total sediments transported with water discharge. The estimated total soil loss was about 605 million tons per year, corresponding to an average loss of 22.50 Mg ha-1 year-1. In 19% of the state, the erosion rate was higher than the soil loss tolerance(T), and these areas should be prioritized for adopting measures to mitigate the erosion process. The RUSLE underestimated the generation of sediments at 0.56 Mg ha-1 year-1, which corresponds to an error of 18.60%. Results obtained can assist in the development of different soil use and management scenarios and provide options for policymakers to encourage soil conservation in the state of Rondônia.

Modeling of soil loss by water erosion in the Tietê River Hydrographic Basin, São Paulo, Brazil

“…G. Santos et al, 2018). It is noteworthy that when soils with low and high K scores are subjected to management that does not include conservation practices, high soil losses can occur (Lense et al, 2021).…”

Identification of Erosion Critical Areas Based on Soil Erodibility and Terrain Influence Factors in the Iranian Part of the Caspian Sea Basin

“…Soil erosion is not only different for various types of soils, but also it is different for the same type of soil under different climate conditions or land use management. Different land use systems might alter several soil properties and processes (Karami et al, 2018;Tavares et al, 2019;Ouallali et al, 2020;Lense et al, 2021;Costea et al, 2022). The most important driving forces for soil erosion in Iran include soil vulnerability, land use change, unnecessary and improper development of infrastructures and illegal exploitation of natural resources (Sadeghi, 2009).…”

Estimates of Soil Losses Due to Water Erosion in the Amazon Biome

“…However, also the Reserve is subject to environmental degradation resulting from deforestation, advance of urban areas, changes in land use and land cover (LULC), forest fires and water erosion (Mascarenhas et al, 2018;Marengo et al, 2022), emphasizing the need for urgency of protection .Monitoring and addressing the phenomena rely on the assistance of environmental technologies that help in the mitigation measures of environmental degradation, such as geotechnologies tools, that provide a comprehensive spatiotemporal view of the patterns of change in landscape (Avtar et al, 2020). In Brazil, owing to its vast territorial expanse, these tools become pivotal for environmental diagnostics and prognostics (D'Andrimont et al, 2021;Lense et al, 2021; INPE, 2023).In this way, the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) makes it possible to estimate soil loss rates caused by water erosion. Thus, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation -RUSLE (Renard et al, 1997) is widely used to estimate these rates in large areas and river basins.…”

“…Thus, the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation -RUSLE (Renard et al, 1997) is widely used to estimate these rates in large areas and river basins. Several studies have evaluated the effectiveness of erosion prediction models in Brazilian soils, including research conducted by Nachtigall et al (2020), Lense et al (2021), and Macedo et al (2021.Considering that forest fires alter vegetation cover, we chose to emphasize factor C, which considers the impact of soil management, vegetation cover and residual biomass in estimating soil loss due to water erosion (Bertol et al, 2019). The C factor can be obtained from experimental plots (Wischmeier and Smith, 1978) or vegetation index, such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index -…”

“…Monitoring and addressing the phenomena rely on the assistance of environmental technologies that help in the mitigation measures of environmental degradation, such as geotechnologies tools, that provide a comprehensive spatiotemporal view of the patterns of change in landscape (Avtar et al, 2020). In Brazil, owing to its vast territorial expanse, these tools become pivotal for environmental diagnostics and prognostics (D'Andrimont et al, 2021;Lense et al, 2021; INPE, 2023).…”