Application of RMMF-Based GIS Model for Soil Erosion Assessment in Andaman Ecosystem

Sirisha Adamala (), Ayyam Velmurugan, Nikul Kumari (), T. Subramani, T. P. Swarnam, V. Damodaran and Ankur Srivastava
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Sirisha Adamala: ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744 101, India
Ayyam Velmurugan: ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744 101, India
Nikul Kumari: Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia
T. Subramani: ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744 101, India
T. P. Swarnam: ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744 101, India
V. Damodaran: ICAR-Central Island Agricultural Research Institute, Port Blair 744 101, India
Ankur Srivastava: Faculty of Science, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2007, Australia

Land, 2023, vol. 12, issue 5, 1-26

Abstract: Water erosion is one of the major land degradation problems all over the globe, and its accurate quantification in different land use contexts is required in order to propose suitable conservation measures and curtail related hazards. In the Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands, the land use changes due to faster urbanization and deforestation practices have led to accelerated erosion at many points around the inhabited Islands. Moreover, agricultural land uses in the A&N Islands are vulnerable to severe soil erosion, mainly due to cultivation practices along the steep slopes and mono-cropping culture. A study was conducted by establishing runoff plots in areas with different land uses to measure soil and nutrient losses and to estimate soil erosion using a semi-process-based soil erosion model, i.e., Revised Morgan Morgan and Finney (RMMF). The RMMF model was calibrated using primary data from runoff plots for the years 2019–21, validated for the year 2022, and applied in a Geographical Information System (GIS) to estimate soil erosion spatially over the Andaman ecosystem. The RMMF model simulated soil erosion during validation with a coefficient determination (R 2 ) greater than 0.87 as compared to measured soil erosion from the runoff plots. The study revealed that annual N, P, and K losses of 41–81%, 42–95%, and 7–23%, respectively, due to runoff from various land uses. The land use land classification analysis of the Andaman Islands revealed that about 88% of the total geographical area is under the forest and mangrove land uses, which exhibited very slight soil erosion of <5 t/ha. This 88% of forest and mangrove areas requires suitable conservation measures such as afforestation and rehabilitation/restoration of mangroves. Moreover, 6% of cultivated areas need terracing, bunding, intercropping, etc., at the highest priority in order to conserve a sustainable Andaman ecosystem. On average, the annual soil loss from the Andaman Islands is 3.13 t/ha. About 6% of the study area exceeds the soil tolerance limit of 2.5–12.5 t/ha/year, which needs suitable soil and water conservation measures at the lowest priority due to economic implications.

Keywords: erosion; conservation; islands; land use; nutrients; RMMF (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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