Integrated Use of Remote Sensing and Gis for Predicting Soil Erosion Process

Soil erosion is one of the most important environmental problems, and it remains a major threat to the land use of mountainous environment. Runoff from eroding mountainous landscapes contains sediment and any nutrients, fertilizers that were present in the soil. Soil erosion may be reflected in reduced crop production potential, lower surface water quality and damaged drainage networks. Assessment on soil erosion hazard is essential for soil conservation plans in a mountainous region for sustainable development. RS and GIS technique has been recognized as a powerful and effective tool in detecting land-use change. The objective of this study was to predicting soil erosion process of Yizi region based on RS and GIS technique by integration of soil erosion controlling soils cape, land cover, terrain and climatic parameters as inputs. Integrated predicting approach resulted in severs classes of soil erosion hazard in the study area with numerical values of the Soil Loss Equation (SLE) ranging between low hazard to high hazard. The results indicate that RS and GIS technique is indeed valuable tools for predicting soil erosion process. * Corresponding author: Wenfu Peng (1966--): doctor student, specialized in environmental remote sensing. [email protected] , Telephone: 86-028-80933103, Fax:86-028-84760819