Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious concern in most of the Indian watersheds and needs a thorough study. Every year, the Brahmaputra River carries millions of tons of sediment, and the shape of the world’s largest river island Majuli is changing. But due to different activities like urbanization, deforestation, agricultural practices, etc., there is a change in soil loss rate in different parts of the watershed. To assess this change, a study is conducted to prioritize the whole catchment based on soil erosion rate. The annual soil erosion map (0 to 24039 t/ha/yr) is prepared for the entire catchment using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) model and is categorized into six classes. It is found that 4.14% and 58.43% of basin area lies in the category of moderate-severe (near Majuli) and very low erosion rate respectively. The developed map may be used further for different studies and watershed management.

摘要

水土流失是印度大部分流域的一个严重问题，需要进行彻底的研究。每年，雅鲁藏布江携带数百万吨的泥沙，世界上最大的河流岛屿马居里的形状也在发生变化。但由于城市化、森林砍伐、农业实践等不同活动，流域不同部分的土壤流失率发生了变化。为了评估这种变化，进行了一项研究，根据土壤侵蚀率对整个流域进行优先排序。年度土壤侵蚀图（0 至 24039 吨/公顷/年）是使用修订后的通用土壤流失方程 (RUSLE) 模型为整个流域准备的，分为六类。研究发现，流域面积的4.14%和58.43%分别属于中重度（马居里附近）和极低侵蚀率类别。