High levels of water erosion in a tropical micro-watershed calculated by USLE model

Based on the USLE method, GIS was used to model erosion rates in the Muchacho River Microbasin (MRM). The simulation results show an average soil loss of 74.4 t/ha/year, corresponding to the "high erosion" category. The headwaters of the MRM, characterized by scattered soils, sparse vegeta...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autor: Jaya-Santillán, Juan
Formato: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2023
País:Ecuador
Recursos:Universidad Central del Ecuador
Repositorio:Revista FIGEMPA: Investigación y Desarrollo
Idioma:español
OAI Identifier:oai:revistadigital.uce.edu.ec:article/4269
Acesso em linha:https://revistadigital.uce.edu.ec/index.php/RevFIG/article/view/4269
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:USLE
río muchacho
erosión hídrica del suelo
precipitación
microcuenca
análisis espacial
muchacho river
soil water erosion
rainfall
microbasin
spatial analysis
Descrição
Resumo:Based on the USLE method, GIS was used to model erosion rates in the Muchacho River Microbasin (MRM). The simulation results show an average soil loss of 74.4 t/ha/year, corresponding to the "high erosion" category. The headwaters of the MRM, characterized by scattered soils, sparse vegetation, grazing, steep slopes and frequent rainfall, show medium to very high soil erosion rates (> 25 t/ha/yr). On the other hand, areas with high vegetation density, moderate slopes and low rainfall present low erosion rates (0-25 t/ha/yr) and are mainly located in the central and lower part of the watershed. The simulation results showed a distribution of the data skewed to the right (skew = 1.05), i.e. severe erosion values with higher frequency; and leptokurtic (Kurt = 3.57) with lower frequency of extreme values.