Title: Mapping soil erosion potential zones with a geo-spatial application of multi-criteria evaluation technique model in highlands of Ethiopia

Authors: Afera Halefom; Asirat Teshome; Ermias Sisay; Biruk Shewayirga; Mihret Dananto

Addresses: Department of Hydraulic and Water Resourcing Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Hydraulic and Water Resourcing Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Hydraulic and Water Resourcing Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Hydraulic and Water Resourcing Engineering, Debre Tabor University, Debre Tabor, Ethiopia ' Department of Water Supply and Environmental Engineering, Institute of Technology, Hawassa University, Hawassa, Ethiopia

Abstract: Soil erosion is considered one of the major problems affecting soil quality and water resources. Erosion and soil degradation increase significantly due to irregular and undulating topography, which is a serious problem of loss of fertile soils each year. Based on geographic information system (GIS), with the integration of the multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) analysis, an attempt was made to combine a set of factors such as slope, topographic wetness index (TWI), aspect, stream power index (SPI), elevation and curvature to have a fruitful decision to fulfil to the stated objective in Megech watershed. Out of the total watershed area (525.594 km²): 0.004 km² (0.001%), 34.210 km² (6.509%), 353.195 km² (67.205%), 138.007 km² (26.260%) and 0.132 km² (0.025%) areas are very high, high, medium, low and very low prone to soil erosion respectively. Therefore, for minimising soil erosion problems in Megech watershed, biological and physical measurements of soil and water conservation techniques should be conducted.

Keywords: erosion; Ethiopia; multi-criteria evaluation; MCE; geographic information system; GIS; raster calculator; susceptibility mapping.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSAMI.2018.099231

International Journal of Sustainable Agricultural Management and Informatics, 2018 Vol.4 No.3/4, pp.186 - 204

Received: 29 Oct 2018
Accepted: 29 Dec 2018
Published online: 23 Apr 2019 *

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