Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Rendiconti Lincei, 2024 (SCI-Expanded)
Soil, an indispensable resource for various aspects of life, demands urgent prioritization, especially in the realm of soil conservation. To prevent soil erosion, it firstly needs to be accurately identified in terms of soil loss rates. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE), widely employed model for predicting water erosion on various scales, includes a methodology for estimating the soil erodibility factor (RUSLE-K). It is typically treated to account for the cumulative impact of yearly rainfall energy flux or rainfall erosivity, expressed as RUSLE-R factor in the model, on the soil’s susceptibility to erosion. Although this factor, which reflects the soil's response to erosive forces, is expressed as a single value for a year, the model also provides specific methodologies for estimating the seasonal variations of erodibility, thus enabling a more accurate evaluation of soil losses and facilitating informed decision-making and the implementation of necessary protection measures. In this study, these factors were obtained for 15-day periods throughout the year with seasonal variations in the Central Black Sea Region by using geographic information systems. Average RUSLE-R was 822 MJ mm ha−1 h−1 y−1, ranging between 186 and 3716 MJ mm ha−1 h−1 y−1. The seasonal RUSLE-K was on average 0.0324 t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1, with the lowest and highest values of 0.0120 and 0.0604 t ha h ha−1 MJ−1 mm−1 respectively. The seasonal variation of erodibility exhibited a dynamic trend over the year, with peak levels typically occurring during the spring and reaching the lowest in the fall. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.)