GIS modeling of water erosion in Jordan using "RUSLE"

الملخص EN

Jordan is a country dominated by arid climate and fragile ecological system, which makes land degradation, soil erosion and desertification important areas of interest.

This study creates a soil erosion model based on the RUSLE erosion model, resulting in a national potential soil erosion map for Jordan.

The objective of this study is to create a national potential erosion map for Jordan using the RUSLE erosion model.

To meet the objective of this study a GIS database was created to support the application of RUSLE in Jordan.

The R, K, LS, and C factors have been created from RUSLE model using local data.

The C factor was estimated from previous studies, and expert's evaluations.

According to RUSLE model, the regions with high erosion rates are the northern highlands, Jordan Valley escarpment and some parts of Araba Hills in the southern Jordan.

These regions have steep slope with precipitation rates ranging from 50 mm to 100 mm in the south to 550 -600 mm in the north.

The model shows that the annual soil loss ranges between 0 - >100 tons/ha.yr.