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Assessment of Soil Erosion Using the RUSLE Model for the Epworth District of the Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe

Sustainability, 2020-10, Vol.12 (20), p.8531 [Peer Reviewed Journal]

2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License. ;ISSN: 2071-1050 ;EISSN: 2071-1050 ;DOI: 10.3390/su12208531

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  • Title:
    Assessment of Soil Erosion Using the RUSLE Model for the Epworth District of the Harare Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe
  • Author: Marondedze, Andrew K. ; Schütt, Brigitta
  • Subjects: Central business districts ; Climate change ; Environmental perception ; Erosion control ; Growth rate ; Land cover ; Land use ; Population growth ; Residential areas ; Risk ; Runoff ; Soil erosion ; Tributaries ; Urban areas ; Urban development ; Urban sprawl ; Urbanization ; Vegetation ; Water quality
  • Is Part Of: Sustainability, 2020-10, Vol.12 (20), p.8531
  • Description: Urban development without adequate soil erosion control measures is becoming a major environmental concern in developing urban areas across Africa. These environmental disturbances encompass rampart Land Use and Land Cover changes (LULC) due to a high population growth rate and increased economic activities. To understand the influence of accelerated LULC changes and urban expansion as major drivers in landscape degradation in the Epworth district of the Harare Metropolitan Province, the RUSLE model was employed. This considers land use, soil, climate and topography as input parameters in the assessment of the extent and impact of these drivers on soil erosion. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used to predict the potential erosion between 1984 and 2018 and soil erosion risk for the years 2000 and 2018. The mean rate of the predicted potential soil erosion was 13.2 t ha−1 yr−1 (1984–2018); areas especially vulnerable to erosion were predicted for foot slope areas with direct tributaries to the major streams and steep sloping zones. The average soil erosion risk was estimated at 1.31 t ha−1 yr−1 for the year 2000 and 1.12 t ha−1 yr−1 for 2018. While the overall potential soil loss decreased between 2000 and 2018, the potential soil loss was observed to increase tremendously in residential areas, which doubled in extent between 2000 and 2018. The findings reveal that about 40% of the Epworth district was threatened by unsustainable soil loss resulting from increased soil erosion risk within the built-up areas.
  • Publisher: Basel: MDPI AG
  • Language: English
  • Identifier: ISSN: 2071-1050
    EISSN: 2071-1050
    DOI: 10.3390/su12208531
  • Source: Geneva Foundation Free Medical Journals at publisher websites
    ROAD: Directory of Open Access Scholarly Resources
    ProQuest Central

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