The objective of this study was to better understand the functional links between soil quality, erosion, geomorphology and land-use. This was done for the Kan catchment of the Tehran province, central Iran. Soil quality was assessed by using the integrated quality index (IQI) and the Nemoro quality index (NQI): this enabled the total and minimum datasets (TDS) to be obtained by using the principal component analysis. Soil erosion was calculated using the revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) model using the InVEST software. The calculated erosion rates are very high (on average 7 t ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) in the region due to the variety of topography, steep slopes and lack of suitable vegetation. The variety of topography and steep slopes are a caused by the high uplift rates. Consequently, the modelled actual erosion rates are in the same order of magnitude as measured, long-term denudation rates (¹⁰Be). The erosion rates in the rangeland were higher than in agriculture land and built-up areas and exhibit a positive correlation with elevation and slope angle. The integrated soil quality index produced more plausible results than the NQI. According to the IQI, the soils in the study area mostly have a moderate to low quality. The statistical analyses showed that organic matter and sand play a more important role on the soil quality than all the other soil characteristics. Slope and elevation seem to significantly influence the soil quality. We demonstrated that soil quality can be evaluated precisely enough by using the minimum dataset (which reduces costs and time) and that it is dependent only on a few soil parameters. Soil quality and erosion rates vary strongly in areas having a rough and steep topography and the effect of land-use is partially overshadowed.

这项研究的目的是更好地了解土壤质量，侵蚀，地貌和土地利用之间的功能联系。这样做是针对伊朗中部德黑兰省的Kan族流域。土壤质量通过使用综合质量指数（IQI）和内莫罗质量指数（NQI）进行评估：这使得可以通过使用主成分分析来获得总数据集和最小数据集（TDS）。使用修正的通用土壤流失方程（RUSLE）模型和InVEST软件计算土壤侵蚀。计算得出的侵蚀率非常高（平均7 t ha ^-1 yr ^-1），因为该地区地形多样，坡度陡峭且缺乏合适的植被。地形和陡坡的变化是由高上升率引起的。因此，模拟的实际侵蚀率与测得的长期剥蚀率处于相同的数量级（¹⁰是）。牧场的侵蚀率高于农田和耕地，并且与高程和坡度呈正相关。综合土壤质量指数产生的结果比NQI更为合理。根据IQI，研究区域的土壤多数为中等至低等质量。统计分析表明，有机物和沙粒对土壤质量的影响比其他所有土壤特征都重要。坡度和海拔似乎严重影响了土壤质量。我们证明了通过使用最小数据集（可以减少成本和时间）来足够精确地评估土壤质量，并且它仅取决于几个土壤参数。