THE ESTIMATION OF SOIL EROSION IN THE UPPER BARLAD CATCHMENT

This region is situated in the Eastern part of Romania, in the centre of the Moldavian Plateau, with a monocline geological structure, that dictates the geomorphologic landscape, with a specific geomorphometry and a characteristic asymmetry of the valleys, with different types of land use. The relief of cuesta determined a specific processes, depending on the orientation (aspect) and the slope of the surfaces: the eastern and southern versants are less inclined, with no or superficial soil erosion and a specific land utilisation (predominant agriculture), and the north-western and the northern versants that have a high slope (The Barlad Cuesta), with predominately forestry and lawn utilisation. The cuestas are dominated by the active geomorphologic processes: landslides, surface soil erosion, gully erosion processes, mass movement etc. The most important process is the soil erosion, which produce soil losses of the fertile horizon. For the spatial analysis of the soil loss we applied USLE revised for Romania conditions and GIS specific procedures in TNT Mips software.