Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Seika 2021 IOP Conf. Ser. - Earth Environ. Sci. 686 012024 074234
Seika 2021 IOP Conf. Ser. - Earth Environ. Sci. 686 012024 074234
Environmental Science
Abstract. Soil erosion remains a strenuous problem for agricultural practices, particularly in
tropical regions as happened in Indonesia. This study aimed to investigate the distribution of soil
erosion in agricultural areas of a tropical watershed. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation
(RUSLE) model in a Geographic Information System (GIS) was used for soil erosion
assessment. RUSLE model parameters were collected from various sources. Soil erosion was
classified into five classes such as very low (0-15 t ha-1 yr-1), low (15-60 t ha-1 yr-1), moderate
(60-180 t ha-1 yr-1), heavy (180-480 t ha-1 yr-1), and very heavy (>480 t ha-1 yr-1). The result
showed that the average soil erosion in the study site was 71.1 t ha-1 yr-1. More than 50% of the
study site was occupied by very low class soil erosion, while heavy and very heavy class soil
erosion occupied more than 20% of the study site. The finding of this study provides a useful
reference for soil erosion control and studies.
1. Introduction
As an important part of the land, the soil has important roles in crop production. Land cultivations for
farming are massively found in tropical regions, where rainfall is available in a large number.
Frequently, these activities are causing land degradation in the form of soil erosion and reducing land
productivity. Soil erosion has been reported causing many deprivations, especially in tropical countries
[1,2]. Therefore, soil erosion study is necessary as the basis for soil erosion control planning [3,4].
Reliable information on soil erosion distribution provides a fundamental consideration to determine
priorities and types of soil conservation strategies.
Soil erosion studies have been performed in various approaches, depending on geological conditions
and data availability of each country. In Indonesia, soil erosion is commonly investigated by using a
model that provides a faster result. However, most of the model applications for soil erosion assessment
are not completed by model validation. Therefore, the accuracy of the study result cannot be achieved
properly. The lack of field measurement data for model validation has become a challenge for model
application. In this study, the soil erosion model was validated by using reference values from other
studies in Java Island, where the geographical condition of the study sites tends to be the same as
suggested in some previous studies [5,6].
2. Methodology
2.1. Study site
This study was conducted in agricultural areas, north of Progo Watershed. Administratively, the study
site is located in Central Java Province, Indonesia and covers about 417.7 km2 area (Figure 1). Annual
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 licence. Any further distribution
of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd 1
The International Conference on Smart and Innovative Agriculture IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 686 (2021) 012024 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/686/1/012024
rainfall reaches more than 2,000 mm. Elevation points were scattered from 500 - 1,450 m.a.s.l. The
study site was dominated by farmland, covering more than 80% of the study site.
2
The International Conference on Smart and Innovative Agriculture IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 686 (2021) 012024 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/686/1/012024
(a) (b)
2.2.4. Cropping management (C) and erosion control practice (P) factor.
C and P factors reflect the effect of cropping management and erosion control practice on soil erosion.
In this study, C and P were calculated as CP factors, where the value of this factor was determined from
the reference value of the CP factor of Java Island for some types of land use [12]. Based on the land
use map was obtained from Indonesian Earth Surface Map, there were five types of land use in the study
site such as shrub (CP= 0.1), settlement (CP= 0.2), forest (CP= 0.05), mixed farmland (CP= 0.51) and
rice field (CP= 0.02) as shown in Figure 3b.
(a) (b)
3
The International Conference on Smart and Innovative Agriculture IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 686 (2021) 012024 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/686/1/012024
Figure 4 showed that soil erosion with heavy and very heavy was scattered in the northeast and
southwest of the study site. This pattern indicated a dominant effect of land slope on soil erosion
distribution as reported in some previous studies [18,19]. Spatially, the study site was dominated by
areas with very low (53.6% of total area) and low class soil erosion (15.1% of total area). Whereas,
heavy and very heavy classes covered about 8.9% and 1.9% of the total area, respectively. The
distribution of soil erosion in five classes is shown in Table 1.
Table 1. Soil erosion distribution in five different classes
Range (t ha-1 yr-1) Category Area (km2) %
0-15 Very low 223.82 53.6
15-60 Low 63.15 15.1
60-180 Moderate 85.49 20.5
180-480 Heavy 37.08 8.9
>480 Very heavy 8.14 1.9
In general, average annual soil erosion in the study site is in the moderate category (71.1 t ha-1 yr-1).
This finding indicated the increase of soil erosion to heavy and very heavy categories can occur rapidly.
Hence, soil erosion control in the area with heavy and very heavy erosion is required. Soil erosion
4
The International Conference on Smart and Innovative Agriculture IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 686 (2021) 012024 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/686/1/012024
control can be applied easier by focusing on the area with a high land slope. Long-term conservation
scenarios by increasing forest vegetation cover in hilly areas can be applied for soil erosion control in
the existing condition.
4. Conclusions
The present study revealed that the average annual soil erosion in the study site was 71.1 t ha-1 yr-1
(moderate category). Soil erosion with heavy and very heavy was scattered in the northeast and
southwest of the study site where the land slope tended to high. The effect of the land slope factor on
soil erosion was more dominant than the other factors such as rainfall distribution, soil type, and land
use type. The map of soil erosion distribution can specifically show the location of critical areas. Hence,
the priority area for conservation practices programs can be recognized.
References
[1] Pupim F N, Bierman P R, Assine M L, Rood D H, Silva A, and Merino ER 2015 Erosion rates and
landscape evolution of the lowlands of the Upper Paraguay river basin (Brazil) from cosmogenic
10Be Geomorphology 234151-160.
[2] Didonéa E J, Minella J P G, and Evrard O 2017 Measuring and modelling soil erosion and sediment
yields in a large cultivated catchment under no-till of Southern Brazil Soil Tillage Res. 174 24-
33.
[3] Peng C, Yonggang G E, and Yongming L 2011. Soil erosion and sediment control effects in the
three gorges reservoir region, China J. of Resources and Ecol. 2(4) 289-297.
[4] Govers G, Merckx R, Wesemael B, and Oost K V 2017 Soil conservation in the 21st century: why
we need smart agricultural intensification SOIL 3 45-59.
[5] Shrestha D P, Suriyaprasit M, and Prachansri S 2014 Assessing soil erosion in inaccessible
mountainous areas in the tropics: the use of land cover and topographic parameters in a case
study in Thailand Catena 121 40-52.
[6] Hao C, Oguchi T, and Pan W 2017 Assessment for soil loss by using a scheme of alternative sub-
models based on the RUSLE in a Karst Basin of Southwest China J. Integ.r Agric. 16 (2) 377-
388.
[7] Ganasri B P and Ramesh H 2015 Assessment of soil erosion by RUSLE model using remote sensing
and GIS-a case study of Nethravathi Basin Geosci. Fron.t 7 953-961.
[8] Karamesouti M, Petropoulos G P, Papanikolaou I D, Kairis O, and Kosmas K 2016 Erosion rate
predictions from PESERA and RUSLE at a Mediterranean site before and after a wildfire:
comparison and implications Geoderma 261 44-58.
[9] Renard K G, Foster G R, Weesies G A, McCool D K, and Yoder D C 1997 Predicting soil erosion
by water: a guide to conservation planning with the revised universal soil loss equation
(RUSLE) (Washington: U.S. Department of Agriculture).
[10] Herawati T 2010 Spatial analysis of erosion danger level at Cisadane watershed area Bogor district
J. Nat. Conserv. For. Res. 7(4) 413-424.
[11] Harjianto M, Sinukaban N, Tarigan S D, and Haridjaja O 2015 Erosion prediction and soil
conservation planning in Lawo watershed Indonesia J. Environ Earth Sci. 5(6) 40-50.
[12] Asdak C 2007 Hidrology and watershed management (Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University Press)
(in Indonesian).
[13] Vis M 1987 A procedure for the analysis of soil erosion and related problems in water and land
resources management studies (The Hague: International Reference Centre for Community
Water Supply and Sanitation).
[14] Mitasova H, Mitas L, Brown W M, and Johnston D 1999 Terrain modeling and soil erosion
simulations for Fort Hood and Fort Polk test areas (Champaign: the University of Illinois at
Urbana Champaign).
[15] Oliveira A H, da Silva M A, Silva M L N, Curi N, Neta G K, de Freitas D A F 2013 Development
of topographic factor modeling for application in soil erosion models. In: Soil processes and
5
The International Conference on Smart and Innovative Agriculture IOP Publishing
IOP Conf. Series: Earth and Environmental Science 686 (2021) 012024 doi:10.1088/1755-1315/686/1/012024
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank the Directorate of Research Universitas Gadjah Mada for providing fund of this
study through RTA Research Grant 2020.