Nigatu, Aklile (2014) Impact of Land Use Land Cover Change on Soil Erosion Risk: The Case of Denki River Catchment of Ankober Woreda. Masters thesis, Addis Ababa University.
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Abstract
Nowadays the impact of land use land cover change on different natural and manmade resources including soil resources is getting increased attention globally. This study analyzed the land use land cover changes and the associated risk on soil erosion during a study period between 1987 and 2013 on Denki River catchment of Ankober Woreda. The data for the study were acquired from field survey and secondary sources. The 1987, 2000 and 2013 Landsat Thematic Mapper images were acquired and classified using supervised classification methods. Based on the two periods, the land use land cover types were categorized and their trend and rate were analysed. The RUSLE model was also used in a GIS platform to determine the influence of land use land cover changes on soil erosion of the study catchment during the two periods. The land use land cover data of 2013 shows that the watershed was predominately covered by cultivated land (64.3%), grazing fields (11.4%), shrubs (8%), closed-canopy forests (16.1%) and settlement (0.2%). Results showed that the mean soil erosion of the watershed was significantly increased from 17.69t/ha/yr in the year 1987 to 20.38t/ha/yr in the year 2000 and to 29.08t/ha /yr in the year 2013. Additionally, the spatial analysis revealed that the fragmentation of forest cover from mountainous and hilly areas and shrubs from relatively flat areas increased in cultivated lands on more slope areas and extensive cultivation practice in relatively more erosion-prone soils were the main factors contributing towards the increased soil erosion risk of the watershed. Furthermore, results indicated that conversion of other land use land cover categories to cropland was the most detrimental for the increment of risk of soil erosion whereas forest and shrub lands acted as the most effective barrier to soil loss. Particularly, the upstream mountainous and steeper parts of the watershed are highly susceptible to erosion. The subwatersheds which have high erosion risks should be prioritized during intervention of LULC planning and management as well as SWC conservation practices in order to conserve the resources within the watershed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Masters) |
|---|---|
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | GIS, LULCC, Remote sensing, RUSLE model, Soil erosion, Watershed. |
| Subjects: | G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GE Environmental Sciences Q Science > QE Geology Q Science > QK Botany |
| Divisions: | Africana |
| Depositing User: | Selom Ghislain |
| Date Deposited: | 26 Jun 2018 09:09 |
| Last Modified: | 26 Jun 2018 09:09 |
| URI: | http://thesisbank.jhia.ac.ke/id/eprint/4560 |
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