Open AccessSoil Vulnerability Assessment of Afikpo South Local Government Area, Ebonyi State, Nigeria
Author(s) -
Okonufua Endurance,
Olajire O. Olabanji,
Ojeh N. Vincent,
Christiana Ovie Akpoduado,
Joshua Maaku Mark
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of environment and climate change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2581-8627
DOI - 10.9734/ijecc/2019/v9i430112
Subject(s) - soil loss , universal soil loss equation , environmental science , local government area , shuttle radar topography mission , digital elevation model , vulnerability (computing) , livelihood , hydrology (agriculture) , erosion , agriculture , geography , local government , remote sensing , geology , geotechnical engineering , computer security , archaeology , computer science , paleontology
Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) integrated with the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was adopted to estimate the rate of annual soil loss in Afikpo South Local Government. This is important due to the fact that agriculture is the main source of livelihood in the area. The RUSLE factors were computed using data such as rainfall from NIMET, Soil from FAO, elevation from SRTM and Landsat 8 OLI from USGS. The data were used as input in a GIS environment and the annual soil loss was generated using the RUSLE equation. The result shows that the average annual soil loss ranges from 0 to 155, 858 ha/ton/yr. It was also observed that soil erosion was predominant in the southern part of Afikpo South LGA due to the presence of steep slopes in the area. The study serves as preliminary documentation for planning, conservation and management of soil resources in the Local Government.