Estimation of Soil Erosion Using RUSLE Model and GIS Tools: A Study of Chilika Lake, Odisha

Abstract

Chilika Lake is the largest coastal lagoon on the eastern coast of India. The aerial extension of the lake fluctuates between 1165 km2 to 906 km2. The opening of new inlet into the lake has enriched its biodiversity but also has increased the rate of siltation, which inturn affected the lake’s water holding capacity, causing ecological repercussions and impacting its flora and fauna. The RUSLE model integrated with remote sensing and GIS techniques was used to assess the soil loss in watershed of Chilika Lake. The model takes into account various factor viz. Crop /cover management factor (C), Soil erodibility factor (K), slope length (L), Conservation support practice factor (P), Rainfall erosivity factor (R), and steepness factor (S) to estimate potential soil loss. The results of the study reveal that 486.92 km2 i.e., 73.16% area of the Chilika watershed falls under least risk category of soil erosion, 44.17 km2 (6.6%) under moderate category, while, about 11% is at high, 8.8% at very high, and 0.043 at severe risk of soil erosion. The analysis estimates the annual average soil loss rate in the catchment of Chilika Lake to be 32.41 ton/ha/yr. The raster layers developed to study spatial soil loss indicate that the catchment of the lake is under the grip of soil erosion and siltation problems. Therefore, the study recommends immediate action of conservation and management planning processes to save the lake from further degradation.

Artificial Neural Networks for Mapping Coastal Lagoon of Chilika Lake, India, Using Earth Observation Data

“…The effects from the human activities in the watershed of Chilika lagoon result in increased siltation and an increase in nutrients. The land cover types were identified on the satellite images in the study area using information on classification adopted from existing studies [71]; see Figure 7.…”

“…The study area covers a spatial extent with the coordinates of 19°28 ′ -19°54 ′ N; 85°06 ′ -85°35 ′ E, [68] located in the state of Odisha, East India, Figure 3. The largest brackish water lagoon in Asia [69,70], Chilika Lake covers a total area of over 1100 km 2 with existing fluctuations of the lake surface reported between 1165 km 2 and 906 km 2 [71]. The lake is located at the junction of two different water masses-riverine freshwater and oceanic salt waters from the tidal influx of the Bay of Bengal.…”

Characterization of carbon fluxes, stock and nutrients in the sacred forest groves and invasive vegetation stands within the human dominated landscapes of a tropical semi-arid region

“…Aster DEM at 30 m resolution and ESRI land cover data were used to compute the factors in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS 10.3. This method is based on quantitative analysis using the analytical tools of ArcGIS to assess the statistical properties of rainfall, soil erosion data, and digital elevation model 142 . The Kappa coefficient was used to validate the constructed RUSLE model for soil erosion (Table S15 ).…”

Regulatory Ecosystem Services of Forest Sacred Groves in comparison to Invasive vegetation in the urban and urban peripheries of a semi-arid region

“…Aster DEM at 30m resolution and ESRI land cover data were used to compute the factors in ArcGIS Pro and ArcGIS 10.3. This method is based on quantitative analysis using the analytical tools of ArcGIS to assess the statistical properties of rainfall, soil erosion data, and digital elevation model (Behera et al, 2023). Kappa coe cient was used to validate to constructed RUSLE model for soil erosion (Table . S 11).…”