Estimation of soil erosion risk in southern part of Syria by using RUSLE integrating geo informatics approach

Soil erosion is one of the major problems that threatens agricultural production and sustainability of natural resources in Syria. More than 85% of Syrian agricultural land is exposed to soil erosion at different rates. The present study estimated soil erosion in the eastern part of Yarmouk Basin in Al-Swida governorate (Southern Syria), by integrating the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and Geographic Information System (GIS) approach. The parameters used for the RUSLE model were prepared from climatic data, field data, and satellite imageries. Results showed that average erosivity was 374.19 MJ mm ha(-1) h(-1) yr(-1), while the K-factor ranged from 0.22 to 0.36 ton.ha.MJ(-1).mm(-1), and LS-factor reached 45% in some places. The estimated potential soil erosion ranged from 1.26 to 350.5 t ha(-1) yr(-1), with an average of 137.4 t ha(-1) yr(-1). Meanwhile, ninety-five percent of the study area experienced acceptable rate of erosion with soil loss, which ranged between 0 to 5 t ha(-1) yr(-1). While, rest of the area experienced unacceptable erosion rate, which ranged from 5 to 350 t ha(-1) yr(-1). Therefore, the areas which are experienced unacceptable erosion rate need immediate conservation plan from soil and water conservation point of view.