Abstract:

Erosion is one of the most important physical mechanisms causing landscape degradation. Many habitats can be affected as a result of soil losses. It is necessary to know the distribution and amount of soil losses in order to improve landscapes degraded by erosion. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) is a mathematical model used to estimate soil losses. In this study, it is aimed to estimate and map the cover management factor (C factor), which is one of the parameters of the RUSLE model, on a monthly by remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) in the Sarıkızlı basin. For RUSLE-C factor value, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) map was produced from satellite images and then spatially calculated using an exponential regression equation. RUSLE-C factor has the lowest value of 0.24 ± 0.20 in June and the highest value of 0.75 ± 0.18 in December. The most important feature of the RUSLE-C factor is that it helps in determining the areas sensitive to degradation by monitoring the change and how to take soil conservation measures. As a result, the spatial determination of landscape degradation in a faster time with remote sensing/GIS /erosion model integration will enable the reclamation to be done faster, economically, and accurately.

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