Özet:

Soil erosion is a worldwide environmental problem that threatens the sustainability of natural resources, social and economic development, and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. In our country, the amount of erosion has increased with the increase of people’s pressure on natural resources and has caused negative effects on the ecosystem. In order to take measures to reduce this effect, it is necessary to determine the amount of soil loss in a watershed. The study area was chosen as the Değirmendere Çatak subwatershed, which is located within the borders of Trabzon province in the Eastern Black Sea Region of Turkey. In the study, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) were used to calculate the amount of soil erosion. As a result of the study, the mean values of rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), land slope and length (LS), and crop and management (C) were determined as 324.65 MJ ha-1 mm hour-1 year-1, 0.029 t ha hour ha-1 MJ-1 mm-1, 11.23 and 0.038, respectively. According to these data, the annual mean soil loss in the Çatak subwatershed was 3.28 tons/ha/year, the sediment delivery ratio (SDR) was 0.44, and the sediment yield was 1.46 tons/ha/year. The data obtained as a result of the study will constitute a base for soil and water conservation planning in erosion control studies and guide the practitioners.

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