Malaysian Journal of Geosciences (MJG)

Watershed are adversely affected by delectable land use land cover changes over the last two decades and these changes witnessed the soil loss in watershed. Soil weathering processes are induced by various factors like aggressive rainfall, hilly topography, land use land cover changes, less vegetation. Most of the watershed of Himalayan Rivers are being affected due to soil loss. The Mandakini River Watershed of Garhwal Himalaya, Uttarakhand has been affected by these soil accelerating components. The remote sensing and GIS can plays a vital role in identification of erosion vulnerable area for estimation of soil loss using revised universal soil loss equation (RUSLE) it provides an erosion scenario on sub-watershed scale. The RUSLE factors (R, K, LS, C and P) acquired using satellite based product and spatial technology. The rainfall map prepared from IMD gridded rainfall data, K-factor map retrieved from NBSS & LUP, Sentinel data and ALOSPALSAR DEM utilized for estimation of LS, C and P factors. All factors integrated in ArcGIS environment and soil loss map for year 2022 were prepared and categorized into 23 sub-watershed. This study classify the sub-watersheds based on various soil classes. Soil loss classified on five major classes where, out of 23 sub-watersheds (SW02, SW12, and SW23) classified in very high erosion category, five sub-watershed classified into high erosion class, two at moderate soil erosion class, and rest of thirteen sub-watersheds falls under less erosion risk. This study can helpful for policy makers and planners to take action for mitigation of natural resources.