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Geospatial assessment of soil erosion vulnerability at watershed level in some sections of the Upper Subarnarekha river basin, Jharkhand, India

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Abstract

Undulating landscapes of Chhotanagpur plateau of the Indian state of Jharkhand suffer from soil erosion vulnerability of varying degrees. An investigation was undertaken in some sections of the Upper Subarnarekha River Basin falling within this state. An empirical equation known as Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was utilized for estimating the soil loss. Analysis of remote sensing satellite data, digital elevation model (DEM) and geographical information system (GIS)–based geospatial approach together with USLE led to the soil erosion assessment. Erosion vulnerability assessment was performed by analyzing raster grids of topography acquired from Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) Global DEM data. LANDSAT TM and ETM+ satellite data of March 2001 and March 2011 were used for inferring the land use–land cover characteristics of the watershed for these years, respectively. USLE equation was computed within the GIS framework to derive annual soil erosion rates and also the areas with varying degrees of erosion vulnerability. Erosion vulnerability units thus identified covered five severity classes of erosion ranging from very low (0–5 ton ha−1 yr−1) to very severe (> 40 ton ha−1 yr−1). Results indicated an overall increase of erosion in the year 2011 as compared to the erosion computed for the year 2001. Maximum soil erosion rate during the year 2001 was found up to 40 ton ha−1 yr−1, whereas this went up to 49.80 ton ha−1 yr−1 for the year 2011. Factors for the increase in overall erosion could be variation in rainfall, decrease in vegetation or protective land covers and most important but not limited to the increase in built-up or impervious areas as well.

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Acknowledgments

The first author is thankful to the CIFRI, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Kolkata, and also to the Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra for all the facilities made available and availed for the work as a Research Scholar. Dr. S. K. Sahu and Miss Manisha Bhor of CIFRI (ICAR), Kolkata, are acknowledged for their time to time help. Satellite digital data available from USGS Global Land Cover Facility and used in this study is also duly acknowledged. Authors gratefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for providing their critical comments to improve the quality of this manuscript. Authors are also thankful to Dr. Gunter Doerhoefer, Editor-in-Chief, of the journal toward improvements in the manuscript.

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  1. CIFRI, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Kolkata, India

    Shuvabrata Chatterjee & A. P. Sharma

  2. Department of Remote Sensing, Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra, Ranchi, India

    A. P. Krishna

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Chatterjee, S., Krishna, A.P. & Sharma, A.P. Geospatial assessment of soil erosion vulnerability at watershed level in some sections of the Upper Subarnarekha river basin, Jharkhand, India. Environ Earth Sci 71, 357–374 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-013-2439-3

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