MODELING SOIL EROSION RISK BASED ON USLE USING GIS IN A HIMALAYAN MICRO-WATERSHEDI.H. Ganai, M.A. Wani, Talat, M.A., Bilal A. Pandit, N. Hafiz, I.A. Bisati and Sheikh MehrajAbstract The purpose of this study was to investigate the soil loss and the spatial patterns of soil erosion risk for conservation planning in Khursi micro-watershed under Nilser sub-catchment, Ningle catchment of Jhelum basin in J&K State, implementing USLE (universal soil loss equation-3D) model in geographical information system (GIS). High resolution remote sensing data (IRS ID LISS III data of path /Row 99/65 and 100/66 for the year 2000) was used to prepare landuse/landcover and soil maps to derive the vegetation cover and the soil erodibility factor whereas digital elevation model (DEM) was used to generate spatial topographic factor. Soil erodibility factor (K) in the micro-watershed ranged from 0.30 to 0.60. The micro-watershed is situated in the North-Southern aspect of the Himalayan range with predominance of open natural forests in the hilly landform, horticultural land in upper piedmont plains and agricultural land in lower piedmont and alluvial plains. Open forests in micro-watershed were predicted to have higher soil erosion rate than land with scrub and without scrub (fallow land). Agriculture land-1 and Agriculture land-2 have moderately high and low soil erosion risk, respectively. The study predicted that nearly 10% area has low and 4% area has moderately high to very high risk of soil erosion in the micro watershed.
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