Investigation and Selection of the Suitable Method in Providing Soil-Water Surface Erosion Map

Surface erosion is a serious environmental problem in land degradation caused to decrease in the lands agriculture value and increase in sediment and water pollution. In erosion and sediment studies, erosion types mapping is one of the most important and basic maps to determine the preference in soil conservation program. In this research, the aim is to evaluate some methods in providing soil surface erosion map by GIS and RS including: 1. Data layers integration 2. Photomorphic units map derived from processing satellite images and 3. The supervised classification of ETM+ satellite images. The Roodbar sub-basin; downstream Sefidrood dum, Guilan province, Iran, with 102898 ha located between 49 °15' E and 49 °51' E, 36°43' N and 37°02' N was considered as studying basin in a mountainous physiography. Comparison of different methods with the ground truth map of surface erosion showed that the greatest accuracy and precision is related to photomorphic units map. Overall accuracy of surface erosion classification is 69.2% that was more than data layers integration methods and lower than photomorphic units map.