Comparative Study of Soil Erosion Factors According to Major Landforms Classification: A Review

In most countries, estimation or prediction of soil erosion loss and evaluation of soil erosion risk becomes a tedious task before employing soil protection practices. A lot of literature is published on the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) and Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) with GIS techniques. This review paper assesses the current literature on USLE and RUSLE model for various landforms in separate papers. Here, the paper bifurcates the soil erosion according to major landforms used like Plain, Hill, Mountain, Plateau, and Miscellaneous then it is sub-classified according to model factor’s equation. The aim of this paper is to determine the suitable soil erosion estimation factor’s formulas according to various landforms and write down on single place. In the last section, it compares various equations provided by various researchers in various landforms. The author’s view for the suitable formula according to various landforms is provided for all factors. According to this paper, if intensity data is unavailable formula R8 is recommended for the R factor, but if intensity data of rainfall is given then R1 will be a good choice. LS factor is widely calculated by the DEM model using GIS, otherwise, L2 or S2 are good choices for all regions or landforms. If M(Particle size parameter), OM(Organic matter content), S(Structure), and P(Permeability) are given then K can be calculated from K1 for all landforms, otherwise, K can be directly taken from standard table K2 and K2. Formula C2 is the best choice for the C factor for all landforms. The review shows that formula for P is rarely used by most of the researchers, it varies according to agricultural practices, forest land, etc., and can be calculated using formula P1, otherwise, P can be directly obtained from the practice types used in the P2 with the given table.