Soil Erosion Susceptibility Mapping by Analyzing Morphometric Parameters Using ALOS PALSAR DEM and GIS Techniques for Rawanduz River Basins in Iraq

Annually, soil erosion imposes significant hazards by raising soil fertility and filling reservoirs with sedimentation in the Rawanduz River basins, Iraq. The Rawanduz watershed consists of seven sub-basins. Therefore, it is important to consider areas in these basins that are vulnerable to soil erosion for preventive hazard action. ALOS PALSAR DEM 12.5 m-resolution data was used to analyze morphometric parameters in the study area. Linear, aerial, and relief morphometric parameters were determined using GIS techniques. A set of 15 parameters were studied, including slope (S), drainage density (Dd), texture ratio (T), relative relief (Bh), stream frequency (Fu), infiltration number (If), ruggedness number (Rn), length of overland flow (Lo), constant of channel maintenance (C), relief ratio (Rh), elongation ratio (Re), shape factor (Bs), form factor (Rf), circularity ratio (Rc), and compactness coefficient (Cc). Then, an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used to classify sub-basins according to their susceptibility for soil erosion and important morphometric parameters that have an important influence on soil erosion. The results of the model show that erosion is highly affected by the slope and drainage density in the region of interest, mainly. The results of the AHP set model showed that sub-basin 2 was highly susceptible to soil erosion. We conclude that these results could be useful to various stakeholders such as farmers, water resource managers, conservation planners, and policymakers for better management and decision-making activities.