Assessment of Soil Erosion Risk in Sareskandar Chay Catchment, Eastern Slope of Sahand Mountain Using USLE Model and GIS

Soil erosion is a serious problem, due to progressive arid condition and incorrect management on the eastern slopes of Sahand Mt. Many parameters are aggravating soil erosion in this study area and in catchment scale. Soil is under intensive water erosion as a semi arid area on the slopes of Sahand (NW of Iran).The traces of this erosion has become apparent with the shapes of surface disturbances and gullies and rills in agricultural and grazing lands. In order to investigate causes and factors of water erosion and defining risky lands, we used USLE model and GIS techniques. In this article water erosion and susceptible land erosion, were analyzed using topographic factors, landuse, and precipitation and soil type. The results of study suggested that length and gradient of slope is play important role in erosion processes. In study area, the pattern and type of erosion is defined by length. In some parts of the area where length of slope is increased, depth of gullies is also increased. In addition, when silt composition is increased, linear erosion is also aggravated. The zoning map shows that slopes toward flood plains have very high potential for water erosion.