Water-Borne Erosion Estimation Using the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) Model Over a Semiarid Watershed: Case Study of Meskiana Catchment, Algerian-Tunisian Border

Soil erosion is one of the major environmental problems in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Favoured by the harmful effects of climate change, and intensified by heavy rainstorms, droughts, runoff, soil features, and land cover; the Meskiana catchment, NE Algeria suffers hugely from this hazard. The main purpose of the present study is to adapt the RUSLE model to map the spatial distribution of soil erosion susceptibility in dry climate watershed based on the geographic information system (GIS) and remote sensing (RS) technique. The model considers erosivity (R), topography (LS), erodibility (K), cover management (C), and support practice (P) as the main predisposing and triggering parameters of the phenomenon. For data processing, slopes, precipitations, lithofacies, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), drainage density, and land use were integrated. Some parameters of the model were estimated using RS data and the erosion susceptibility was mapped using GIS. The results showed that the annual soil loss is about 61 t/ha/year in the entire study area, and identified the most heavily eroded areas, requiring immediate action. The compilation of GIS-RS geospatial technologies with field survey made it possible to assess the spatial variation of soil erosion quantitatively and rapidly. It can assist managers in the implementation of land degradation mitigation program with low-costs and enhanced accuracies.