Research Article

Soil Erosion Risk Assessment: a Case Study of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria

Ayodele Owonubi1*
1 Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria; Federal College of Forestry, Jos; Department of Horticulture and Landscape Technology, Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria
* Corresponding author: ayowonubi@gmail.com
Published: Aug, 2021
DOI: 10.67042/njss.2021.a0ofb9x5
Pages: 109-117
Views: 564
Downloads: 831

Abstract

Soil erosion is a treat to global food security. The objective of this study was to evaluate factors influencing erosion on the arable lands of the Jos Plateau, and to estimate the extent of soil erosion in the area. Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) model was used to evaluate soil erosion processes in the study area. This was facilitated with the aid of Geographic Information System Both for Interpolation and Geospatial analysis. Soil data from field survey was the primary source of data for analysis of soil erodibility. Topographic factor was determined from 90-meter elevation data. Rainfall erosivity was determined from rainfall data at 1 kilometer resolution. Whereas vegetation cover factor was determined from Normalized Difference Vegetation Index. Results of the study indicate that rainfall erosivity values were remarkably high and have mean values of 5117MJ.mm/ha.h.y. Analysis of percent areal coverage indicate that the entire area had 52, 34, 7, and 7% low, moderate, high and very high topographic factors respectively. Further analysis indicate that anthropogenic factors had severely affected vegetation coverage of the Jos plateau, especially on the arable lands. Furthermore, during this research, the mean annual actual and potential soil erosion rates were estimated spatially over the Jos Plateau area. Soil erosion rates were far more than tolerable rates thereby affecting soil fertility and productivity.

Keywords

Rainfall erosivity Vegetation cover Soil erodibility Topographic factor

References

  1. Bayramin,I,Gunayand,E.and Erdogan,H.E.2006.Use of CORINE Methodology to Assess Soil Erosion Risk in the Semi Arid Area of Beypazari,Ankara.Turk.J. Agric.For.30,81-100.
  2. Bergsma E.,Charman,P.,Gibbons,F.,Hurni,H.,Muldenhauer,W.C.,and Panichapong,S.1996.Relief effect as a central concept.Pages 53-58.In: Terminology for soil erosion and conservation.ITC (International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Sciences),ISS-AISS-IBGC (International Society of Soil Science),and ISRIC (International Soil Reference and Information Center).
  3. Brady,N.C and Weil,R.R.1999.The Nature and Properties of Soils.12th Edition,Prentice Hall Inc.,New Jersey.
  4. Bunnett,R.B.and Okunrotifa,P.O.1984.General geography in diagrams for West Africa.Longman Group Ltd.,England,p.379.
  5. Dengiz,O.2007.Assessment of soil productivity and erosion status for the ankara-sogulca catchment using GIS.Int. J.Soil Sci.,2,15-28.
  6. Desmet,P.J.J.and Gover,G.1996.A GIS procedure for automatically calculating the USLE LS factor on topographically complex landscapes units.Journal of soil and water conservation,51,427–433.
  7. Gitas,I.Z.Douros,K.Minakou,C,Silleos,G.N.and Karydas,C.G.2009.Multi-Temporal Soil Erosion Risk Assessment in N.Chalkidiki using a Modified USLE Raster Model.EARSeL eProceedings 8(1),40–52.
  8. Hill,I.D.,Alford,M.,Rackham,L.J.,and Tuley,P.1974.Land Resources of Central Nigeria,phase 1:The Landforms,Soils and Vegetation of the Jos Plateau. Landforms and Soils.Land resources development centre,Ministry of Overseas Development,England; Volume 1.
  9. Karaburun,A.2010.Estimation of C factor for soil erosion modeling using NDVI in Buyukcekmece watershed. Ozean Journal of Applied Sciences 3(1),77-85.
  10. Leenaars J.G.B.,A.J.M.van Oostrum and M.Ruiperez Gonzalez,2014.Africa Soil Profiles Database,Version 1.2.A compilation of georeferenced and standardised legacy soil profile data for Sub-Saharan Africa (with dataset).ISRIC Report 2014/01.Africa Soil Information Service (AfSIS)project and ISRIC -World Soil Information,Wageningen,the Netherlands.162 pp.;16fig.;10tab.;25ref.
  11. Macleod,W.N.,Turner,D.C.,and Wright,E.P.1971.The geology of the Jos Plateau.Geol.Surv.Nig.Bull 32,1 and 2.
  12. Menesses –Tovar,C.L.2011.NDVI as indicator of degradation.Unassylva 238:
  13. Olowolafe,E.A.2002.Soil parent materials and soil properties in two separate catchment areas on the Jos Plateau,Nigeria.GeoJournal 56,201-212.
  14. Olson,K.R.,Gennadiyev,A.N.Jones,R.L.and Cheryanskii,S.2002.Erosion patterns on cultivated and reforested hillslopes in Moscow region,Russia.Soil Sci. Soc.Am.J.66:193-201.
  15. Pallaris,K.1999a.Erosion risk mapping:application of digital terrain analysis within a GIS for erosion risk assessment –A case study for the Cabuyal watershed. International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), Cali,Colombia.
  16. Pallaris,K.1999b.Terrain modeling for erosion risk assessment in the Cabuyal river catchment;comparison of results with farmer perceptions.International Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT),Cali,Colombia.
  17. Rodriguez,J.L.G and Suarez,M.C.G.2010.Historical review of Topographical factor,LS,of water erosion models.Aqua-LAC;2(2),pp.56-61.
  18. Schwab,G.O.,Fangmeier,D.D.,Elliot,W.J.,and Frevert,R.K.1993.Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. Fourth Edition.John Wiley and Sons,Inc.
  19. Suri,M.Cebecauer,T.Hofierka,J.and Fulajtar,E.2002.Erosion Assessment of Slovakia at a Regional Scale Using GIS.Ecology (Bratislava)21(4),404–422
  20. Thapa,G.B.and Yila,O.M.2010.Farmers'Land Management Practices and Status of Agricultural land on the Jos Plateau,Nigeria.Land Degradation and Development:Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com)DOI:10.1002/ldr.1079.
  21. Van de Knijff,J.M.,Jones,J.A.,and Montanarella,L.2000.Erosion Risk Assessment in Europe.European Soil Bureau,European Commission;Joint Research Centre, Eoropean Commission;Space Research Centre.
  22. Vijith,H and Dodge-Wan,D.2019.Modelling terrain erosion susceptibility of logged and regenerated forested region in northern Borneo through the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP)and GIS techniques.Geoenvironmental Disasters.6:8.
  23. WorldClim.2014.Global climate data.Downloaded 05/30/2014from www.worldclim.org/
  24. Yu,B.and Rosewell,C.J.1996.A robust estimator of the Rfactor for the universal soil loss equation.Transactions of the ASAE 39(2):
How to Cite

Owonubi, A. (2021). Soil Erosion Risk Assessment: a Case Study of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of Soil Science, 31(2), 109-117. https://doi.org/10.67042/njss.2021.a0ofb9x5

A. Owonubi, "Soil Erosion Risk Assessment: a Case Study of the Jos Plateau, Nigeria," Nigerian Journal of Soil Science, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 109-117, August 2021. doi: 10.67042/njss.2021.a0ofb9x5

Share this article:
Facebook X / Twitter LinkedIn
Download PDF Back to Articles