Mapping Soil Erosion Factors and Potential Erosion Risk of the National Park Central Balkan

D. Ilieva, I. Malinov

Abstract: Soil erosion is widely distributed soil degradation process and recognized environmental problem. The report aims at presenting the main results from assessment and mapping the factors of sheet water erosion and the potential erosion risk on the territory of National Park “Central Balkan”. For this purpose, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was used for soil erosion losses predicting. The influence of topography (LS-factor) and soil erodibility (K-factor) was assessed using Digital Elevation Model (DEM-50) and large-scale soil maps. Rainfall erosivity (R-factor) was calculated by rainfalls data with amounts exceeding 9.5 mm and I av. аbove 0.180 mm/min from 14 hydro-meteorological stations. The values of the erosion factors (R, K and LS) and the potential risk were presented for the whole territory, catchment areas and technical divisions of the National Park. Using the methods of GIS, maps were plotted presenting the area distribution among the classes of the soil erosion factors and the potential risk in the respective zones. The results can be used for making soil conservation decisions and sustainable land management in the park.

Keywords: assessment; factors; soil erosion; water erosion risk

Date published: 2016-12-05