COMPUTATIONAL MODEL FOR SOIL EROSION IN HILLY AREAS
Keywords:
soil erosion, computational model, hilly area, terrain smoothness, rainfallAbstract
Tangub City has a total land area of about 16, 572 hectares in which 60% is hilly and highly elevated associated with clean top forest of some part which make it more vulnerable to high soil erosion. This study aims to make computational model of soil erosion in hilly areas of Tangub City. The study utilized the existing model from the NETLOGO entitled erosion. The model represents a graphical presentation of soil erosion as influenced by the following model parameters: rainfall, terrain-smoothness, soil hardiness, hilly and bumpiness. The study made use of a two-factorial experimental design with Factor A: Rainfall and Factor B: Terrain Smoothness with three levels of each factor. The study shows that rainfall and terrain smoothness both have significant impacts on duration to soil erosion. Rainfall appears to have more impact on soil erosion than terrain smoothness. Its potential disastrous impact becomes even more lethal when taken in combination with terrain smoothness. The study concludes that the impact of rainfall to soil erosion can be diminished when the terrain is highly vegetated or non-smooth. Planting trees as mitigation measure for soil erosion is a significant means to stop further damage to the soil. The effect of planting trees on terrain smoothness is about 80.98% while its mitigating impact on rain is .08% only.
References
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Gillaspy, R. (2016). Soil erosion and Prevention. Chapter 27 on Earth Science 101.
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Romkems et al. (2010). Soil Erosion under Different Rainfall Intensities, Surface Roughness, and Soil Water Regimes. Elsevier Science B.V.
World Wildlife Fund (2016). Threat: Soil Erosion and Degradation. Washington, DC 20037.
Retrieved from: http://www.worldwildlife.org/threats/soil-erosion-and-degradation
Wilensky, U. (1999). NetLogo. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.
