Soil erosion resistivity metric for sub-watershed prioritization

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Hydrology
• Soil Science

Background:

• Soil erosion significantly impacts soil and water quality globally.
• Understanding temporal and spatial erosion patterns is crucial for effective watershed management.
• Existing methods often lack the precision needed for targeted mitigation strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce and apply a novel metric, soil erosion resistivity, for prioritizing sub-watersheds.
• To assess temporal stability of soil erosion in Iran's Shazand Watershed.
• To compare resistivity-based prioritization with conventional erosion rate-based approaches.

Main Methods:

• Employed the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) to estimate soil erosion.
• Introduced soil erosion resistivity, calculated using the normalized coefficient of variation, to assess temporal stability.
• Classified sub-watersheds into five stability categories based on resistivity values.

Main Results:

• Overall soil erosion showed a declining trend, with a notable increase in 2018 due to extreme rainfall.
• The mean annual soil erosion rate was 14.94 t ha⁻¹ y⁻¹.
• Resistivity-based prioritization identified sub-watershed 11 as the highest priority, highlighting areas with persistent high erosion.

Conclusions:

• Soil erosion resistivity offers a more nuanced approach to identifying critical areas for conservation compared to erosion rates alone.
• Prioritizing sub-watersheds based on resistivity enables more precise and effective targeting of management efforts.
• Sustainable practices and focused management in vulnerable regions are essential for mitigating soil erosion and degradation.