Assessment of soil productivity and erosion status for the Ankara-Sogulca catchment using GIS

Abstract

The soil productivity model estimates crop productivity taking into consideration of soil characteristics which affect root development. Another important application of this model is to predict erosion effects on soil productivity. On the other hand, many models include only quantitative estimates on the relationship between soil erosion and soil productivity at the plot scale and do not allow at the regional or catchment scale. Therefore, the main purpose of this study was to determine relationships between soil productivity and erosion risk status at catchment scale using GIS program. The results show that while about half of the study area (43.4%) has high and very high PI levels, 16.4% has moderate and 40.2% has low PI level. In addition, while 40.1% of the study area has under moderate erosion, 37.4% of the area has high and very high and only 22.5% has low potential soil erosion risk. Moreover, this model can be used by producing useful information for evaluation and planning of a sustainable land use. © 2007 Academic Journals.