Disaster Advances Vol.

7 (2) February 2014

Assessment of soil erosion probability in

Kodaikanal, India using GIS and remote sensing
Bagyaraj M. 1 , Ramkumar T. 1 , Venkatramanan S. 2*, Chung S. Y. 2 and Gurugnanam B. 3
1. Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar-608 002, T amil Nadu, INDIA
2. Department of Earth Environmental Sciences, Pukyong National University, 599-1, Daeyeon-dong Nam,
Busan - 608737, REPUBLIC of KOREA
3. Department of Geology, Gandhigarm Rural Institute – Deemed University, Gandhigarm-624 302, T amil Nadu, INDIA
*venkatramanansenapathi@[Link]

Abstract Soil erosion and sediment transport studies were made in

Soil erosion hazard zone was demarcated with the the three experimental watersheds in the hilly mountains
help of Remote sensing data. Geographical part of west Serbia (Yogoslana). The sweater sheds are
Information System (GIS) has been integrated with the characterized by s imilar natural features, the only
difference being the degree of forest cover. The result of
weighted index overlay (WIO) methods for the
study shows that the degree of forest cover affects
identification and delineation of soil erosion
significantly the type and intensity of erosion processes as
susceptibility zones in the Kodai Hills. The well as sediment transport. It was found that the lowest
parameters considered for identifying the soil erosion intensity of erosion and lowest sediment transport recorded
probability zone of factors that are considered to 18
in the watershed had more forest covers . The over view of
influence the soil erosion are: soil series, land soil erosion control measures adopted in Hungary followed
use/land cover, normalized difference vegetation by a case study of the soil erosion process of a small
index (NDVI), landform, drainage density, drainage watershed in the northern sub-continent of Lake Balaton
frequency, lineament density, slope and relative relief has found only two per cent of the calculated soil loss
16,35
generated using the resource sat (IRS P6 LISS IV MX) actually observed in the catchment . The amount of
data and survey of India (SOI) toposheets of scale sediment eroded away from sites of road construction in
hilly areas is ten times greater than the amount derived
1:50,000 and integrated them with weight index
from agricultural land and about 200 times greater than
overlay (WIO) model based on GIS to identify the soil from grassy area and about 2000 times greater from the
erosion probability zone of the study area. forested area. This has distributed the stability of the hill
side, inflicting serious damage to the hydrologic system. 7
In the present analysis the area is divided into three
zones representing low (38.12%), moderate (50%) The Arim Gadh catchment near Missouri has found that
and high (11.89%) erosion proneness. The high soil sediment yield from slopes vegetated with scrubs was 5 - 7
erosion probability zone was observed in areas with times greater than those with reserved forest8 . Once the
high terrain alteration, high relief and slopes with the perennial vegetation off ores are removed and brought
intensity and duration of heavy precipitation during under cultivation, the slope plays an important role in
erosion. The soil wash in cultivated areas is estimated to be
the monsoons.
6 – 10 cm per year and in tea gardens it was found to be 30-
100 cm per annum5. Deforestation is the dominant factor
Keywords: Soil erosion, WIO, Geographical Information 28
causing rapid soil erosion . The other factors, which have
System, Remote Sensing, Kodaikanal.
accelerated soil erosion in the area, include high altitudinal
range, geology and heavy rainfall. Assessment of erosion
Introduction status of a watershed is an essential pre-requisite of
Soil erosion is a serious problem throughout the world due integrated watershed management. Due to the complexity
to its adverse economic and eco-environmental impacts of the variables involved in erosion, it becomes difficult to
such as losses in land resources and decreases in land measure or predict the erosion in a precise manner.
productivity, from erosion and shallow land sliding on
basin slopes to sediment transport and deposition in the The latest advances in remote sensing and geographical
channel network. The management of mountain bas ins information technologies have provided very useful
requires reliable methods for the analysis of sediment methods of surveying and identifying various aspects of
dynamics. 1,6,8,10,11,21,23,33,36 A detailed account of the watershed terrain behavior and also the integrated
procedure is involved in assessing soil erosion in various modelling approach utilizing the parameters controlling soil
diverse environments along the management practices to erosion is the effective mean of practical assessment of soil
reduce the problem17 . The major factors that are erosion hazard. Several studies carried out in different parts
responsible for soil erosion include climate, topography, of the world have demonstrated capability of GIS technique
soil characteristics, vegetation cover and land-use practices. for quantitatively assessing soil erosion hazard based on
various approaches and equations. 9,12,19,20,22,25,26,32,37,38

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

To estimate the average annual soil loss from an area, Methodology: In the present study resource sat (IRS P6
RUSLE is often used. To adopt the RUSLE, large sets of LISS IV MX) sensor data of 7 March 2006 were collected
data starting from rainfall, soil, slope, crop and land and registered to Survey of India (SOI) topographical
management are needed in detail. In developing countries sheets at 1:50,000 scale in the ERDAS image analys is
all the necessary data are often not availab le or require system version 9.3. In the survey of India toposheet, it
ample time, money and effort to prepare such data sets. In forms part of 58 F/7, 8; 11 and 12 on 1:50,000 scales used
the present study, an attempt has been made to assess the for the preparation of spatial databases and they are land
spatial distribution of potential soil erosion zones and rate use/land cover, normalized difference vegetation index
of soil erosion at a of scale 1:50,000 covering Kodaikanal (NDVI), landform, drainage density, drainage frequency,
area by an efficient, fast and simple methodology using the lineament frequency and the topographic attributes of the
remote sensing and GIS data integration and analysis, region such as slope and relative relief. Each category is
despite the lack of direct observation data. subdivided into different classes by its value or feature for
the identification of soil erosion probability zones
Study Area methodology flow chart (Fig. 2).
General Setup: Study area (Fig.1) of Kodaikanal hills is
located in the Dindigul district of Tamil Nadu with an area Drainage dens ity and drainage frequency were classified
2
of 1039.46 km. It is geographically located between 77° into different orders. In GIS, drainage channel segments
14’ 26” and 77° 45’ 28” E longitudes and 10° 6’ 25” and were ordered numerically as order number 1 from a
10° 26’ 54” N latitudes. In the survey of India toposheet, it stream’s headwaters to a point downstream. The stream
forms part of 58 F/7, 8, 11 and 12 on 1:50,000 scale. It is segment that results from the joining of two first order
part of the Western Ghats which is designated as one of the streams was assigned order 2. Two second order streams
eighteen biodiversity hotspots of the world. On a tourism formed a third order stream and so on. The sub basin area,
perspective, the region is widely hailed as the Princess of perimeter, cumulative length of streams and basin length
Hill Stations owing to the popularity it gained during were measured in GIS and are expressed as A, P, L and Lb
British Raj. The climatic condition of the study area is respectively. Parameters such as ruggedness number (Rn),
characterized by humid conditions. Relative humidity is drainage density, bifurcation ratio, stream frequency (Fu),
high during retreating NE monsoon season (October to mid texture ratio, form factor (Rf), circulatory ratio (Rc),
December). The mean temperature of Kodaikanal taluk is elongation ratio (Re) and constant of channel maintenance
15.930 C with a mean summer temperature of 17.29 0 C (C) were evaluated with established mathematical
(June, July and August) and mean winter (December, equations. 34
0
January and February) temperature of 14.10 C. The
average annual rainfall is 1436.87 mm. The maximum Rainfall runoff erosive factor: Rainfall data were
elevation is 2517mts located in the south west portion. obtained from the Bayan Lepas weather station belonging
to Malays ian Meteorological Services Department. The
Geology: The Kodaikanal hills form one of the chief monthly average rainfall data of 10 years (2002–2011) was
2
charnockite massifs which are bluish grey and coarse used to calculate the R factor as per formula :
grained more or less of uniform type of charnockite 12
formation of older granulites and traversed at places by Rainfall factor = 4.17 *∑ (Pi2 /P) – 152
pink granites. The geological sequences of the rock are (i=1)
observed as mentioned below:
where Pi is the monthly average rainfall (mm) for the
Recent and sub recent-Black humus soil, laterite and month i, P is the annual average rainfall (mm) and
lithomorgic clay. represents the annual average R. When P and Pi values are
Archean - Pegmatite, quartz veins and pink granite. substituted from rainfall data in the above equation, the
Feldspathic gneiss (leptynitictype), Charnockite resultant value of R can be obtained. R factor was obtained
Pyroxene granulite, Calc-granulite. from Kodai weather station and calculated using above
equation. For Kodaikanal it is 74.60 mm/ha. This constant
Charnockite rocks in the Kodaikanal hills have been factor was used for the entire study area.
intensely altered resulting in the formation of laterite and
lithomorgic clays. This is due to the intensive tropical The rainfall data for the period of 2002 to 2011 were
conditions of the area and extensive laterisation of the collected in the Statistical Department wing (PWD), Govt.
parent rock. During heavy precipitation in rainy seasons, of Tamil Nadu. The rainfall data ware assessed for all the
the capping laterite and clay materials have been eroded to seasons. These results were taken into GIS platform to
down side thereby attributing to the denudation of the prepare the spatial distribution maps. Winter, Summer,
plateau. In the Kodaikanal hill ranges, a brown colored Southwest and Northeast monsoon seasons spatial
humus material is found overlaying the lateritic material. distribution maps result reveal that 903.58 km 2, 840.99
2 2 2
km , 894.99 km and 889.17 km area fall in high rainfall
received shadow zone respectively. Last 10 years (1998 to

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

2007) annual average rainfall spatial distribution map result are in association with structural hill areas. The Irugur-
2
reveals that 883.05 km areas fell under high rainfall Vylogam soils having steep to very steep s lopes, very high
shadow zone with more than 766 mm rainfall. It shows the drainage density and stream frequency are the main
annual average rainfall distribution is very high in the study contributing factors for the development of Irugur-
area. The high rainfall domain occupies 84.9 % of the study Vylogam soils. The Pilamedu-Vylogam soil series covers
area (Fig.3). 3.41% of the total geographical area. It may be seen that
the soil series ‘Cavaiparai-Samayanure, Irugur-
Soil characteristics of different landforms: The study miscellaneous and Pilamedu-Vylogam soil series is more
area is having six types of soil series (Soil Survey and land prone to erosion than any other unit.
use Organization) Cavaiparai-Samayanure, Shavadiparai-
Vylogam, Irugur-miscellaneous, Irugur-Palaviduthi, Irugur- Land use/land cover: The land use/land cover pattern of
Vyogam and Pilamedu-Vylogam. The Chavadiparai- the area was very important because Western Ghats are
Samayanure soil series moderate steep slopes are the main designated as one of the eighteen biodiversity hotspots of
causative factors for these soils. The Chavadiparai- the world. As a biodiversity hotspot it has the variety of
Vylogam soil series covered in a small area (0.30%) endemic flora and fauna. Its richness of epiphytes, orchids
includes steep slope, drainage density and stream frequency and thirteen varieties of shola forests are unique. Besides,
as the influencing factors for the genesis of this soil. Irugur- this area is prone to the erosion, a phenomenon of debris
miscellaneous soil series having moderate slope, high flow associated with torrential rain falls during the
drainage dens ity, are the main causative factors for these monsoons. In the present study, the standard methods of
soils. These soils occupied 5% of the study area. visual interpretation of remote-sensing data were adopted
to demarcate the various zones of natural and manmade
Irugur-Palaviduthi covers a majority of the study area of patterns. The various land use/land cover classes delineated
65.82% (Fig. 4). The high drainage density and steep slopes to include Forest, Agriculture, Waste Land and Harvested
are the main causative factors for these soils. These soils Land and built-up land water body (Fig. 5).

Fig. 1: Study area map

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

Fig. 2: Flow chart of the present study

Fig. 3: Annual Average Rainfall – SDSS Map

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

Fig. 4: Classes of soil series map

Fig. 5: Classes of land use/land cover map

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

Landforms: The geographical features were interpreted Lineament Density and Lineament Frequency: The
from the satellite imagery and the features and GIS study of lineament density may help to identify the
database was generated for dissected plateau, structural hill, weathered zones in an area which is very essential in the
structural valley, valley fill and pediment. Dissected studies relating to, soil erosion, lands lides etc. The
plateaus occupied almost 24.84% of total geographic areas. lineament density map for the present study area was
Structural hills have been identified in almost all the study prepared using lineament map prepared by interpretation of
area and are delineated based on the image characteristics satellite data. The lineament map was prepared on 1:50,000
viz. valley fills are delineated with the help of satellite scales overlaid by a 2cm grid sheet. The total length of the
image. It is having more vegetation. The valley fills the lineament in each grid was noted down and the process was
cover in small areas. The composite slopes are also repeated for all the grids covering the study area. By
identified. From the ranking awarded above it may be seen carefully examining the values obtained, the data were
that the geomorphological unit ‘Structural Hill’ and grouped into four classes as low (lineament density less
Pediment is more prone to slides than any other unit than 1000 m/sq. km, moderate (1000-1500m/sq. km.), high
(Fig.6). (1500-2000 m/sq. km.) and very high (> 2000 m/sq. km,
Fig. 9). General trend shown by the lineaments present in
Drainage density and drainage frequency: Drainage the study area are NNE–SSW and NE–SW. The lineament
density is considered to be one of the important parameters frequency map was generated using the Spatial Analyst
for assessing the soil erosion zone in an area. Since extension of ArcGIS. The raster layer obtained was
drainage density is a useful index for understanding the reclassified into two classes on using the reclassification
nature of the surface material and their permeability and tool.
infiltration characteristics, drainage density has been used
in conjunction with other parameters such as slope Slope and relative relief: The slope map of the study area
geomorphology, rock types, lineament density etc. Hill's was prepared by adopting the widely used Wentworth’s
slope evolution in an area is controlled by the sediment average slope method. The slopes affect the velocity of
transport processes which change in response to the both surface and subsurface flow and hence soil water
evolving topography and by their interaction with stream content, soil formation, erosion potential and a large
29
processes at the slope base. In mountainous regions, number of important geomorphic processes. Digital
drainage density provides an indirect measure of elevation model (DEM) is derived using contour
groundwater conditions which have an important role to information from the topographical map for estimation of
play in landslide and other erosion activities. 24,30,31 slope in degrees. The identified s lope category varies from
o o
Drainage density is a measure of stream spacing and a 0 to >30 degree in the study area and are classified into
higher drainage dens ity represents a relatively higher five classes like, 0 o –10 o (gentle), 10 o –20 o (moderate), 20
o
number of streams per unit area and thus a rapid storm –25 o (high), 25 o –30 o (very high) and >30 o (steep)
response. It also represents conditions favorable for higher (Fig.10).
erosion from the catchment.
Elevation is useful to classify the local relief and locate
The simplest way to calculate drainage density boon a points of maximum and minimum heights within terrains.
regional scale is to divide the study area into grid squares Relative relief portrays the difference in elevation at a
of one [Link] each and to measure the total stream length in given point. The factor of safety decreases with the increase
each grid square and to group the derived data in drainage in height. Thus, for two slopes having identical geo-
density categories. The methodology stated above has been mechanical and geometrical parameters except for height,
used to obtain a drainage density map of the study area. the higher s lope will be more susceptible to erosion and
2
The values obtained range from 150 to 3,959 m/km finally landslide. Run-off is higher and infiltration is lower in areas
classified into three classes of high (>3,000 m/km 2 ), of steeper topography.
moderate (2000 to 3000 m/km2 ) and low (<2000 m/km2 )
density (Fig.7). The stream frequency is controlled by In addition, saturation of a slope reduces the shear
various factors like climate, the amount of precipitation, resistance of the regolith and increases the shear forces
24,27,30
vegetation cover, permeability of mantle and bedrock. It is through drag. Survey of India provided base layers in
also influenced by the relief of the terrain. In the present a digital format on 1:50000 scale. A DEM was prepared
study, the area has been divided into one [Link] grid and the using line contours of 20 meter interval. The elevation of
number of streams in one sq. km counted based on this. the area depicted in clearly shows that the Kodai hill rises
The area has been divided into three groups in the stream abruptly from the adjacent plains from about 300 m to 1000
frequency map (Fig.8): m. in some parts of the hills such as abruptness continues
even up to 2500 m (Fig.11) The relative relief map thus
1) Low (< 7 / [Link]) generated shows a value ranging between 0 and 2500
2) Medium (7 – 10 / [Link]) m/km2 and reclassified into class 1 (<300 m/km 2 ); class 2
2
3) High (> 10 / [Link]). (300–500 m/km2); class 3 (>500 m/km ).

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Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI): NDVI upon their role in making the terrain susceptible to soil
37
calculated from the visible and near-infrared light reflected erosion. The maximum value is given to the feature with
by vegetation and the healthy vegetation absorbs most of highest susceptibility and the minimum being to the lowest
the visible light that hits it and reflects a large portion of the susceptible feature (Table 1).
near-infrared light. Unhealthy or sparse vegetation reflects
more visible light and less near-infrared light. Calculations The procedure of weighted linear combination dominates in
of NDVI for a given pixel always result in number that raster-based GIS software systems. Spatial analyst
ranges from minus one (−1) to plus one (+1); however, no extension of ArcGIS 9.3 was used for converting the
green leaves give a value close to zero. A zero means no features to raster and also for final analysis. Then using
vegetation and close to +1 (0.8–0.9) indicates the highest raster calculator, all the themes are added and the soil
possible dens ity of green leaves. The IRS P6 LISS 3 erosion prone area map is prepared. In this method, the
multispectral image was used with the vegetation index total weights of the final integrated map were derived as
function available in the ERDAS Imagine 9.2 software to sum or product of the weights assigned to the different
derive the NDVI image. To avoid the negative values and layers according to their susceptibility.
for easy handling of digital data, NDVI values obtained for
IRS—P6 L3 data (23.5 m spatial resolution) were rescaled Assessment of annual soil erosion rate—E30 model
as shown in eq. 1: using NDVI and slope: The proposed method provides a
greater flexibility to estimating the soil erosion rate for any
NDVI = [(Band 4-Band 3/Band 4 + Band 3) + 1] (1) location within the study area because by this method the
soil erosion rate for each of the pixels could be estimated
Thus produced rescaled NDVI map shows a range of individually. 13-15 The soil erosion model given in eq. 2 was
values between 0.63 and 1.75 in which the low values are used to estimate the annual rate of soil erosion in the area
characteristics of cleared areas and zones with sparse under investigation. This model is mainly governed by
vegetations and the higher values indicate densely covered slope gradient and vegetation index and the annual soil
areas. erosion rate (E) is defined as:
0.9
Results and Discussion E = E30 (S/S30 ) (2)
Delineation of soil erosion probability zones—weighted
index overlay method (WOI): The ranking of themes where S = gradient of the point under consideration, S 30 =
done in an unbiased manner is based on the frequency of tan (30°) and E30 =rate of soil erosion at 30° slope and
occurrence of soil erosion under a particular theme. Each defined as given in eq. 3:
thematic map such as land use/land cover, land form,
drainage density, drainage frequency, lineament frequency, E30 = Exp [(Log 0.562 – Log 22.25/NDVImax – NDVImin)
slope and relative relief provides certain clues for the * (NDVI – NDVImin) + Log 2.25] (3)
preparation of soil erosion probability zones. Thus the
major processes involved are theme weightage fixing and The maximum and minimum (average) rate of soil erosion
their further analysis in GIS platform. The weightages of at 30° slope in the study areas collected from the field
individual themes and feature score were fixed and added stations were 22.25 mm/year and 0.562 mm/year in the
to the layers by considering their role in the soil erosion. study area as shown in eq. 3. By calculating the E30 value
GIS modelling technique of index overlay method was used for each pixel us ing eq. 3, soil erosion from each pixel with
to produce soil erosion map. In this modelling method the a different slope was calculated using eq. 2. A raster map of
map classes occurring in each input map are assigned by slope gradient was prepared with the pixel size of 20 m,
different scores in addition to the maps themselves using a DEM to provide the slope information for eq. 2.
receiving weights. The average score is then defined by: The final map thus produced has given a continuous raster
with values varying from pixel to pixel indicating the soil
S = Σ Sij Wi / Σ Wi3 erosion rate in the study area. Thus by using the GIS-based
proposed methods, soil erosion probability zones and soil
where S is the weight score of an area object (polygon, erosion rate map were prepared.
pixel), Wi is the weight for the its input map and Sij is the
rating score of the class map. Finally, the erosion probability zone assessment of the
Kodaikanal area was carried out using seven different
The process involves raster overlay analysis and is known parameters which are generally accepted as soil erosion
as weighted index overlay (WIO) of several methods contributing factors and widely used in soil erosion
available for determining interclass/inter-map dependency, probability zones assessment studies in the literature. These
a probability weighted approach has been adopted that are soil series, land use/ land cover, landform, drainage
allows a linear combination of probability weights of each density, drainage frequency, lineament density, slope and
thematic map (Wt). Different categories of derived relative relief slope. The integrated final map has generated
thematic maps have been assigned scores (Wf), depending a range of values from 16–62 which is reclassified into

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three zones (Fig.12) based on the quintile classification

method available in the spatial analyst option.

Fig. 6: Classes of landform map

Fig. 7: Classes of drainage density map

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

Fig. 8: Classes of drainage frequency map

Fig. 9: Classes of lineament density map

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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

Fig. 10: Classes of slope map

Fig. 11: Classes of relative relief map

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Table 1
Theme and feature class weights of Kodaikanal

Theme weight Feature class weight

Theme Feature class
(Wt) (Wf)
High Rainfall 10
Rainfall 20
Medium Rainfall 7
Pilamedu + Vylogam (Clay loam) 3
Chavadiparai + Vylogam (Sand) 7
Chavadiparai + Somayyanur (Sandy
3
Soil series clay)
Irugur + Miscellaneous (Sandy loam) 10
15
Irugur + Palaviduthi (Sandy loam) 10
Irugur + Vylogam (Sandy loam) 10
Forest 1
Agriculture 7
Waste Land 9
Land use/land Built-up 2
cover
15 Harvested Land 7

Water bodies 0

Dissected plateau 5
Pediment 8
Landform Structural hill 7
12 Structural valley 10
Valley Fill 10
<2000 m/km2 3
Drainage density 10 2000 to 3000 m/km2 4
>3,000 m/km2 10
< 7 / [Link] 2
Drainage frequency 7 – 10 / [Link] 5
15
> 10 / [Link] 10
1000-1500 m / sq. km 3
Lineament Density 1500-2000 m / sq. km 5
10
>2000 m / sq. km. 10
00 – 100 0
10 - 200 3
20 - 250 7
Slope 0
20 25 – 30 10

>300 10

300 m 0
< 300 5
Relative relief 300 - 500 m 8
18
> 500 m 10

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Fig. 12: Soil erosion zone map (In figure Km2 should be Km 2 )

In quintile classification, the range of possible values is availability of data needed to process the RUSLE method
divided into unequal-sized intervals so that the number of necessitated the application of the proposed methodology
values is the same in each class. Classes at the extremes in the study area to assess the spatial distribution of rate of
and middle have the same number of values. Because the soil erosion in the studied sub watershed. The use of remote
intervals are generally wider at the extremes, this option is sensing data and digital elevation model in GIS and
useful to highlight changes in the middle values of the ERDAS enabled the determination of the spatial
distribution. distribution of the parameters needed for the analysis.

The soil erosion probability of the area is classified as high, The overall estimated soil erosion rate in the study area was
moderate, and poor. The high erosion probability zones varying from 0.04 mm year −1 to 61.80 mm year −1 with an
occupy 38.12% of the total area; moderate and low soil average of 30.92 mm year −1 . The spatial patterns of soil
erosion prone zones occupy 50% and 11.89% of the study erosion rate were overlaid with soil erosion probability map
area respectively. After generating the soil erosion of the area to cross validate the accuracy of both the maps
probability zones, it is very important to identify the type of and it was observed that areas with high soil erosion rate
individual feature classes which play a vital role in the and high erosion probability zones were showing similar
making the area vulnerable to soil erosion. In the present spatial domains and patterns. The result of cross validation
analys is it was found that land use/land cover types such as of both maps indicates the accurate choice of parameters
cleared areas, crop land and rubber plantations, particularly and methodology for the present study.
in replanting time present in the s lide slope plateau, highly
elevated areas with high slope and high drainage density Conclusion
make the terrain more prone to soil erosion. The rate The study area is characterized by undulating topography
severity and nature of the erosion will be more dominated by high-altitude hills with an upland plateau
unpredictable at the time of monsoon seasons. flanked by steep slopes. Major portion of the area is
covered with cultivated land followed by forest land. The
A quantitative assessment of average annual soil loss on implementation of WIO and E30 method enables to classify
grid basis was made using a new methodology known as the area into different zones based on probability of soil
WIO and NDVI slope of the area. Lack and non- erosion and the rate of soil erosion in each pixel is
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Disaster Advances Vol. 7 (2) February 2014

ultimately helpful to derive suitable protection measures. 9. Ismail J. and Ravichandran S., RUSLE 2 model application for
The implementation of WIO and NDVI method enables to soil erosion assessment using remote sensing and GIS, Water
classify the area into different zones on the basis of Resour Manage, 22, 83–102 (2008)
probability of soil erosion and the rate of soil erosion in
10. Jain A.K. and Kothyari U.C., Sediment yield estimation using
each pixel is ultimately helpful to derive suitable protection
GIS, Hydrol Sci J.,45(5), 771–786 (1997)
measures.
11. Jain S.K., Singh P., Saraf A.K. and Seth S.M., Estimation of
The maximum rate of soil erosion is estimated to be 61.80 sediment yield for a rain, snow and glacier fed river in the
mm year −1 and this corresponds to areas with high soil western Himalayan region, Water Resour Manage, 7, 377–393
erosion probability (38.12% of the total area). The (2003)
generated soil erosion probability image, predicted amount
of soil erosion rate and its spatial distribution can provide a 12. Jianrong F., Bingwei T. and Dong Y., Cause analysis of gully
basis for comprehensive and sustainable land management erosion in Yuanmou Basin of Jinshajiang valley, Wuhan Univ. J
Nat Sci., 13(3), 343–349 (2008)
for the study area. Spatial relationships between erosion
rate and elevation indicate that severe and extreme soil 13. Hazarika M.K. and Honda K., Estimation of soil erosion
erosion is characteristic of plateau margins and highly using remote sensing and GIS, its calculation and economic
undulating hills with varying terrain alteration where no implications on agricultural production, In Stott D.E., Mohtar
conservation practices exist. Therefore, these areas, R.H. and Steinhardt G.C., eds., Sustaining the global farm,
especially the extreme and severe erosion zones, need USDA—ARS national soil erosion research laboratory, Purdue,
immediate attention from soil conservation point of view. 1090–1093 (2001)

Acknowledge ment 14. Honda K., Samarakoon L., Ishibashi A., Mabuchi Y. and
Miyajima S., Remote sensing and GIS technologies for
We express our sincere thanks to University Grant denudation estimation in Siwalik watershed of Nepal, In
Commission (UGC), Government of India for extending Proceedings of the 17th Asian Conference on Remote sensing,
the financial support to carry out this work. Colombo, Sri Lanka, 4–8th November, B21–B26 (1996)

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