Soil Erosion Prediction Using RUSLE with GIS: A Case Study in Upper Chaobai River Basin of China

This research integrated the RMsed Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model with RS and GIS techniques to quantify soil erosion risk, took upper Chaobai River basin, China as an example to map soil erosion within ArcGIS environment by using the RUSLE model. The RUSLE factors were developed from local rainfall, topographic, soil classification and land use data. This study proved that the integration of soil erosion models with GIS and RS was a simple and effective tool for soil conservation. Statistical analysis determined that 14537.5 km² (75.1%) had minimal to low soil degradation in the upper Chaobai River basin, 2381.0 km² (12%) had medium soil degration, 1726.0 km² (8.9%) had high to very high soil degradation, only 709.5 km² (3.7%) had extreme soil erosion. The study area, in general, was exposed to a low risk of soil water erosion.