Use of Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) Model to Estimate Soil Erosion in Jibab Wadi Basin West of Iraq

Abstract

The study dealt with one of the most important environmental problems that leads to soil deterioration, increase in the degree of desertification and the loss of large areas of lands that suffer from dry and semi-arid areas. This study aims to calculate the amount of soil transported using the revised universal equation model of erosion RUSLE, and five representative surface samples were obtained. For all the watershed of the valley, analyses were carried out for the general equation of erosion, and the climatic data of the Anah meteorological station were used, whose values ranged between (0.0554 -0.4923), as well as the values of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) between its high and low values (0.10084 -0.645161). Maps were created from the general equation factors (RUSLE) and their units were classified according to water erosion rates to investigate the susceptibility of soil to erosion and the risk of soil erosion.