Digital mapping of RUSLE slope length and steepness factor across New South Wales, Australia

Yang, Xihua

doi:10.1071/sr14208

Cited by 33 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…The slope length and steepness factor (LS) can accelerate soil erosion, representing the influence of topographic features on soil erosion [53]. A steeper slope and a longer slope length lead to more serious soil erosion [54]. The L value can be calculated by the following equation [55]:…”

Section: Slope Length and Steepness Factor (Ls)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Soil Erosion in the Chaohu Lake Basin through Modified Soil Erodibility Combined with Gravel Content in the RUSLE Model

Chen

et al. 2019

Water

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It is generally acknowledged that soil erosion has become one of the greatest global threats to the human-environment system. Although the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) has been widely used for soil erosion estimation, the algorithm for calculating soil erodibility factor (K) in this equation remains limited, particularly in the context of China, which features highly diverse soil types. In order to address the problem, a modified algorithm describing the piecewise function of gravel content and relative soil erosion was used for the first time to modify the soil erodibility factor, because it has been proven that gravel content has an important effect on soil erosion. The Chaohu Lake Basin (CLB) in East China was used as an example to assess whether our proposal can improve the accuracy of soil erodibility calculation and soil erosion estimation compared with measured data. Results show that (1) taking gravel content into account helps to improve the calculation of soil erodibility and soil erosion estimation due to its protection to topsoil; (2) the overall soil erosion in the CLB was low (1.78 Mg·ha −1 ·year −1 ) the majority of which was slight erosion (accounting for 85.6%) and no extremely severe erosion; and (3) inappropriate land use such as steep slope reclamation and excessive vegetation destruction are the main reasons for soil erosion of the CLB. Our study will contribute to decision-makers to develop soil and water conservation policies.

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Section: Slope Length and Steepness Factor (Ls)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Estimation of Soil Erosion in the Chaohu Lake Basin through Modified Soil Erodibility Combined with Gravel Content in the RUSLE Model

Chen

et al. 2019

Water

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“…() using the recent digital soil maps and soil property projections including soil texture and organic matter (Grundy et al ., ; Gray et al ., ; Gray and Bishop, ). The LS‐factor was calculated from the 30 m DEM (SRTM) based on a comprehensive method as described in Yang (). The C‐factor was estimated on monthly basis and updated from the latest satellite‐derived fractional vegetation cover (version 3.1.0; Guerschman et al ., ) based on methods described in Renard et al .…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Model performance is also measured by the coefficient of efficiency, E c (Nash and Sutcliffe, ) as it is commonly used to assess model performance in hydrology and soil sciences (Yang, ).

E_{c} = 1 - \sum_{i = 1}^{M} {(y_{i} - \overset{true^}{y})}^{2} / \sum_{i = 1}^{M} {(y_{i} - \overset{true¯}{y})}^{2}

where y i are observed values while

\overset{y}{true}

are modelled values;

\overset{y}{true}

is the average of observed values, and M represented the sample size. Essentially, E c is an indicator of how close the scatters of projected versus actual values are to the 1:1 line (Nash and Sutcliffe, ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extreme rainfall, rainfall erosivity, and hillslope erosion in Australian Alpine region and their future changes

Zhu

Yang

et al. 2019

Intl Journal of Climatology

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The Australian Alpine region is highly vulnerable to extreme climate events such as heavy rainfall and snow falls, these events subsequently impact rainfall erosivity and hillslope erosion in the region. In this study, the relationship between extreme rainfall indices (ERIs) and rainfall erosivity was examined across the Alpine region in New South Wales (NSW) and Australian Capital Territory (ACT) and the surrounding areas including Murray and Murrumbidgee and South East and Tablelands (SET). Rainfall erosivity, hillslope erosion, and their changes were estimated in the future periods using the revised universal soil loss equation and the NSW/ACT Regional Climate Modeling (NARCliM) projections. Results from the study demonstrate a good relationship between ERIs (especially Rx5Day) and rainfall erosivity. The rainfall erosivity and hillslope erosion are projected to increase about 2 and 8% for the near future (2020–2039), further increase to 8 and 18% for the far future (2060–2079) in the Alpine region assuming the groundcover is maintained at the current condition. The change in rainfall erosivity and erosion risk is highly uneven in space and in season with the highest erosion risk in summer with an increase about 33% in the next 50 years. The highest erosion risk area is predicted within SET (maximum rate 19.95 Mg ha−1 year−1), but on average, the ACT has the highest erosion rate, which is above 1.36 Mg ha−1 year−1 in all periods. The snowmelt in spring in the Alpine region is estimated to increase the rainfall erosivity by 13% in the baseline period, up to 24% in the near future, but far less (about 1%) in the far future due to predicted temperature rise and less snow available in the Alpine region in the next 50 years.

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“…6, both rainfall erosivity and soil erodibility are high in the North Coast region, resulting in the highest soil loss compared with other regions. The Far West region has the lowest rate of soil loss, which may be due to the lowest rainfall erosivity (Yang and Yu 2015) and slope-steepness (Yang 2015) in this flat area, despite the erodibility being the highest. Lower erodibility in the coastal areas could be due, in part, to the relatively large amount of rock fragments that protect the soil against raindrop impact.…”

Section: Further Improvementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Digital mapping of soil erodibility for water erosion in New South Wales, Australia

et al. 2018

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Soil erodibility represents the soil’s response to rainfall and run-off erosivity and is related to soil properties such as organic matter content, texture, structure, permeability and aggregate stability. Soil erodibility is an important factor in soil erosion modelling, such as the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), in which it is represented by the soil erodibility factor (K-factor). However, determination of soil erodibility at larger spatial scales is often problematic because of the lack of spatial data on soil properties and field measurements for model validation. Recently, a major national project has resulted in the release of digital soil maps (DSMs) for a wide range of key soil properties over the entire Australian continent at approximately 90-m spatial resolution. In the present study we used the DSMs and New South Wales (NSW) Soil and Land Information System to map and validate soil erodibility for soil depths up to 100 cm. We assessed eight empirical methods or existing maps on erodibility estimation and produced a harmonised high-resolution soil erodibility map for the entire state of NSW with improvements based on studies in NSW. The modelled erodibility values were compared with those from field measurements at soil plots for NSW soils and revealed good agreement. The erodibility map shows similar patterns as that of the parent material lithology classes, but no obvious trend with any single soil property. Most of the modelled erodibility values range from 0.02 to 0.07 t ha h ha–1 MJ–1 mm–1 with a mean (± s.d.) of 0.035 ± 0.007 t ha h ha–1 MJ–1 mm–1. The validated K-factor map was further used along with other RUSLE factors to assess soil loss across NSW for preventing and managing soil erosion.

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Digital mapping of RUSLE slope length and steepness factor across New South Wales, Australia

Cited by 33 publications

References 34 publications

Estimation of Soil Erosion in the Chaohu Lake Basin through Modified Soil Erodibility Combined with Gravel Content in the RUSLE Model

Estimation of Soil Erosion in the Chaohu Lake Basin through Modified Soil Erodibility Combined with Gravel Content in the RUSLE Model

Extreme rainfall, rainfall erosivity, and hillslope erosion in Australian Alpine region and their future changes

Digital mapping of soil erodibility for water erosion in New South Wales, Australia

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