Journal of Environmental Biology

Determination of soil erosion in a steep hill slope with different land-use types: A case study in Mertesdorf (Ruwertal/Germany)

Sezgin Hacisalihoglu*

Department of Watershed Management, Faculty of Forestry, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon-61080, Turkey

(Received: September 09, 2005 ; Revised received: February 15, 2006 ; Accepted: March 20, 2006)

Abstract: Inappropriate land use is one of the main reasons for soil erosion and land degradation. Vine growing plays an important role in many semiarid regions all over the world as a permanent plant cover in terms of preventing erosion, sustainable use of land and water resources, defense against desertification and settling population in rural areas. In this paper, in a steep hill slope of the village Mertesdorf (Ruwertal/Germany), Algemeine boden abtrags gleichung (ABAG) have been applied to determine and compare the soil erosion amounts between the different land use types such as vine growing, forest lands, grasslands, shrubs and new forestations. The results show that the soil erosion amounts differs in a high ratio between the land use types. Soil erosion amounts in the vine growing areas are the highest (6.47 t/ha/year), then comes with 1.19 t/ha/year the over grazed grasslands and the lowest erosion amounts have been determined, as expected, in the forest lands (0.66 t/ha/year).

Copyright ? 2007 Triveni Enterprises. All rights reserved. No part of the Journal can be reproduced in any form without prior permission. Responsibility regarding the authenticity of the data, and the acceptability of the conclusions enforced or derived, rest completely with the author(s).