Water Erosion Risk Analysis in the Arribes del Duero Natural Park (Spain) Using RUSLE and GIS Techniques

Leticia Merchán (), Antonio Miguel Martínez-Graña, Pilar Alonso Rojo and Marco Criado
Additional contact information
Leticia Merchán: Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Filiberto Villalobos Avenue, 119, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Antonio Miguel Martínez-Graña: Department of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Merced Square, University of Salamanca, 37008 Salamanca, Spain
Pilar Alonso Rojo: Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Filiberto Villalobos Avenue, 119, 37007 Salamanca, Spain
Marco Criado: Department of Soil Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of Salamanca, Filiberto Villalobos Avenue, 119, 37007 Salamanca, Spain

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 2, 1-15

Abstract: Nowadays, soil erosion is a global problem of great environmental and social concern, affecting natural resources, natural spaces and agricultural production. Therefore, it is necessary to carry out an erosion risk analysis to estimate the amount of soil lost, as well as to establish possible conservation practices to mitigate this loss. One way of doing this is through the integration of empirical equations such as RUSLE and GIS techniques, giving rise to a mapping of potential and actual erosion, considering the factors that make up this equation. The results obtained indicate that the areas with extreme erosion levels in Arribes del Duero, that is, with the greatest losses (greater than 200 Tm/ha/year), correspond to areas with steep slopes, poorly developed soils such as Leptosols and Regosols and vegetation with little or no vegetation cover. On the other hand, areas with stable levels of erosion (up to 10 Tm/ha/year) are found in flat areas, with more developed soils, such as Alisols and Luvisols, and vegetation with a higher density and herbaceous cover. Finally, it is concluded that the integration of GIS techniques with parametric equations constitutes a simple and economic tool for estimating these losses and, together with land use, allows different mitigation measures to be established, which, in our study area, focus on reducing the length and gradient of the slope, such as contour cultivation, construction of terraces and “bancales”.

Keywords: water erosion; soil loss; RUSLE; GIS; Arribes del Duero (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/2/1627/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/2/1627/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:2:p:1627-:d:1035566

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().