Disaster Advances
14 (7) July (2021)
RUSLE and SDR model for erosional risk assessment
and sediment yield estimation of Achara basin,
western coast, India
Chougule V.A.1*, Sapkale J.B.1 and Pawar-Patil V.S.2
1. Department of Geography, Shivaji University, Kolhapur, 416 004, INDIA
2. Department of Geography, The New College, Kolhapur, 416012, INDIA
*vac_geo@unishivaji.ac.in
Abstract
The phenomenon of accelerated soil erosion, the resulting of
irresponsible land use practices and human interference
bring considerable changes within the Achara basin. The
high rate of soil erosion deteriorates the fertility of the soil
and consequently reduces crop productivity. Accumulation
of transported soil at the lower part of the basin creates a
severe problem of sedimentation within the channel and
affects the hydraulic characteristics. The estimated potential
sediment yield has been derived by using an integrated
RUSLE model accompanied remote sensing database in
geospatial environment.
The result reveals the estimated average annual soil loss for
the watershed as 18.81 t ha-1 year-1. Sediment Delivery Ratio
(SDR) fluctuates from 0.01 to 0.627. It has shown
remarkably low for almost all parts of the basin, except steep
slope and lower part of the watershed depending on the
channel gradient of the major river. The junctions of the
main channels are more susceptible to accumulate the
sediment (> 4 t ha-1 year-1) within the basin. The lowermost
portion of the basin receives a massive amount of sediment
which ranges between 0.01 to 127 t ha-1year-1 causing
sedimentation within the estuary. The attempted work
focuses on assessment of the erosional risk and
sedimentation issue of Achara basin. The applied model will
be helpful in the disaster management planning of such kind
of coastal basins in Maharashtra.
Keywords: Soil loss, RUSLE, Sediment Delivery Ratio,
Sediment Yield.
Introduction
Soil is a crucial component of the lithosphere that is being
eroded for a long time. Soil erosion is one of the major
environmental issues found all over the world, which is a
complex, natural, dynamic and gradual process. However,
its rate is accelerated by human intervention. It was studied
that anthropogenic activities despoiled about 10% of the
world’s arable land4. Land degradation induced by soil
erosion is witnessed globally.
It has been proven that 85% of the world’s land is degraded;
consequently, 17% of crop productivity is considerably
threatened in the world. The detachment and transportation
of the soil grains from the earth surface are the initiation of
soil erosion process which gets deposited at the bed of the
stream, at the mouth of the river, or in the reservoirs. The
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Vol.
exposed subsurface soil further undergoes severe erosion by
the agents like wind and water. This cycle profoundly affects
the quality of soil.
It is estimated that 167 Mha out of 329 Mha geographical
area of India is affected by water and wind erosion8. Near
about 5334 million tons of productive soil loss are witnessed
in India. Out of that 29% of eroded soil is deposited in the
sea and about 10% is accumulated in the reservoirs,
minimizing water holding capacity of the same16.
Achara basin locates in the Konkan strip of southern
Maharashtra, characterized by the rough terrain having a
steep slope with heavy rainfall. Achara river is traversing
through narrow valleys and merges at the Arabian sea. An
estuary formed at the mouth of the river is an outcome of its
rugged topography and short flow path of the channel. The
sedimentation in the estuarine area is caused by severe
upstream soil erosion, further resulting into the reducing
storage capacity of the estuaries in this region.
The deposition of the transported degraded soil contributing
to produce the narrow channel in this basin. The entire
scenario of soil erosion and deposition has been influenced
by various factors like hilly topography, humid climate,
intrinsic characteristics of lateritic soil and the leaching
process. Human activities like mining, deforestation and
unjustifiable agricultural practices, particularly along the
slopping grounds of this region are major cross cutting issues
that have to be scientifically addressed for deriving soil
erosion intensity. Besides this, analysis of sediment
discharge can be applicable to study the same14.
The implementation of the RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil
Loss Equation) model with Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR)
is proved to be one of the effective measures to estimate the
average annual potential of sediment yield in the basin.
RUSLE model18 is a globally accepted model to assess soil
erosion. It is a revised version of the Universal Soil Loss
Equation24 whereas SDR reflects the efficiency of the
watershed in transporting soil particles from areas of erosion
to the point where gross soil erosion is measured19.
Study Area
Achara basin is developed along the Arabian Sea in the
Sindhudurg district of Maharashtra. The basin extends from
16° 09’43” to 16°22’57” north latitude and 73° 25’48” to 73°
46’05” east longitude bound by the Western ghat in the west.
 Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

Achara River covers about 52.34 km distance from its origin
to mouth occupying a catchment area of 253 sq km (Fig. 1).
Material and Methods
An integrated RUSLE model has required the database of
DEM (Digital Elevation Model), rainfall, slope, soil, LULC
(land use and land cover) and NDVI (Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index). This database was generated using
SRTM DEM (resolution 30m) and Sentinel-B (resolution
10.5m) which were analysed digitally using ARC GIS 9.3
and Erdas Imagine 9.2 software (Fig. 2). The satellite data
have been geometrically rectified concerning the Survey of
India (SOI) toposheets of 1:63360 scale and GPS survey.
Substation wise mean annual rainfall data were obtained
from the information published by the Department of
Agriculture, Maharashtra. The similar point data was
interpolated using the IDW technique in the ArcGIS
environment. Soil texture (5 cm depth) and organic matter
(15 cm depth) data were acquired from the soil grid database
published by the International Soil Reference and
Information Centre (ISRIC).

Fig. 1: Study area)

Fig. 2: Flow chart of database and methodology

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 Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

RUSLE18 model helps to identify the soil erosion-prone
areas and also estimates potential annual soil loss within the
basin. It is the product of six significant erosional factors.
A = R. K. L. S. C. P
where A = the average soil loss per unit area by erosion (t
ha−1 year−1), R = the rainfall erosivity factor (MJ mm ha−1
h−1 year−1), K = the soil erodibility factor (t h MJ−1 mm−1), L
= the slope length factor, S is the slope steepness factor, C
=the plant cover and management practice factor and P= the
conservation support practice factor. The values of L, S, C
and P are dimensionless.
Computation of Rainfall Erosivity (R) Factor: Rainfall
erosivity factor is the average sum of individual storm
erosion index value El30 where E is the total storm kinetic
energy per unit area and l30 is the maximum 30-minute
rainfall intensity. Calculation of the R factor is rather a
difficult process because of unavailability of data.
Cooper5 stated that rainfall erosivity is water-induced
erosion determined by erosive strength of raindrop and
erosion resistant capacity of soil. Therefore, substation-wise
mean annual rainfall data within the watershed was
considered for the measurement of the R factor according to
the formula proposed by Ram babu et al.2
where Ra= Average erosion index and P= Average rainfall
(mm), Subscript a stands for annual.
Computation of Soil Erosivity (K) Factor: K factor was
computed based on table 121 in which soil erodibility was
figured out from textural characteristics and organic matter
content of the soil in the region. Soil types were classified
according to the USDA (United States Department of
agriculture)19 classification system.
Computation of Topographic Factors (LS):
Topographical factor is the product of slope length (L) and
slope steepness (S). The value of L is computed by using the
following equation:
L = (λ /22.13) m
where 22.13 = the RUSLE unit plot length, m = a variable
slope length exponent and λ = the horizontal distance from
the origin of overland flow to the point where either the slope
gradient decreases enough that the deposition begins or
runoff becomes concentrated in a defined channel.
The slope length exponent (m) has been derived by using the
following equation:
m = β/ (1+ β)

Ra = 81.5 + 0.380 Pa where β = ((SinƟ/0.0896)/(3.0 (SinƟ)0.8 + 0.56)) and Ɵ =

Slope angle (Slope in Radiance).

Table 1
K factor values, Source K factor after Stewart et al21
Pom (Percent of Organic Matter)
Textural Class <0.5 2 4
Sand 0.05 0.03 0.02
Fine sand 0.16 0.14 0.10
Very fine sand 0.42 0.36 0.28
Loamy sand 0.12 0.10 0.08
Loamy fine sand 0.24 0.20 0.16
Loamy very fine sand 0.44 0.38 0.30
Sandy loam 0.27 0.24 0.19
Fine sandy loam 0.35 0.30 0.24
Very fine sandy loam 0.47 0.41 0.33
Loam 0.38 0.34 0.29
Silt loam 0.48 0.42 0.33
Silt 0.60 0.52 0.42
Sandy clay loam 0.27 0.25 0.21
Clay loam 0.28 0.25 0.21
Silty clay loam 0.37 0.32 0.26
Sandy clay 0.14 0.13 0.12
Silty clay 0.25 0.23 0.19
Clay 0.13-0.2

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 Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

McCool et al equation was followed to calculate the slope used the mainstream channel slope for the prediction of
steepness factor as: sediment delivery ratio:

S = 10.8 SinƟ+ 0.03 for S<9% (i.e. tanƟ<0.09)
S = (SinƟ/Sin5.14)0.6 S>9% (i.e. tanƟ>0.09)
In Arc GIS 9.3, SRMT DEM was used to obtain the slope
map in degree and flow accumulation map employing
surface analysis and hydrology tools.
Computation of Cover Management (C) Factor: There is
a linear relationship between NDVI and C factor since De
Jong7 emphasized the consideration of NDVI i.e. the
Normalized Vegetation Difference Index as the
vegetation parameters for soil erosion assessments. The
Sentinel-2B image was used as a base image for the
preparation of the NDVI layer. It generally gives a range of
values from -1 to + 1. Apart from vegetation, negative and
other values were excluded while measuring the cover
management factor. C factor was assessed using a regression
equation accomplished in the ArcGIS raster calculator:
Ci = 0 if NDVI < 0
Ci = - (1/NDVI max)*(NDVI)i + 1 if 0 < NDVI
Computation of Conservation Practice (P) Factor: GCPs
(Ground Control Point) were collected for the identification
of major land use and land cover categories in the river basin.
GCPs were used to perform and validate the supervised
classification of linearly stretched standard false-color
composite (SFCC) sentinel-2B image with 10.5m resolution.
Furthermore, for each LULC class, P values were crudely
assigned as per the standard table 2 postulated by Hann et
al.9
Table 2
P factor values, Source based on Hann et al9
LU/LC Class Conservation
Practice (P)
Vegetation 0.4
Mangrove forest 0.7
Fallow Land 0.6
Channel Deposition 0.3
Water Bodies 0.1
Built-up area 0.1
Agricultural Land 0.5
Barren Land_lateritic 0.9
Barren Land 1.0
Computation of Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR):
Sediment Delivery Ratio is greatly affected by topographic
characteristics. Its rate is controlled by different factors viz.
slope steepness, slope length, watershed shape,
physiographic and morphometric hydro-geomorphic
characteristics of a watershed. Williams and Berndt’s23 have
SDR = 0.627* SLP 0.403
where SLP = % slope of mainstream channel.
Estimation of Sediment Yield: Sediment yield is estimated
by taking the product of SDR and integrating the layer of
average annual soil loss.
Sy = Ʃni=1 SDR * A (Average Annual Soil Loss)
Results and Discussion
Estimation of Annual Average Soil Loss using RUSLE
Model
Rainfall Erosivity (R factor): R factor is mainly influenced
by rainfall characteristics which serves as one of the main
drivers of climate affecting surface soil erosion. Its
magnitude depends on the kinetic energy of raindrops and
associated surface runoff15. The R factor is the cumulative
effect of precipitation which accelerates soil erosion through
rills8.
Rainfall in the basin oscillates between 2399 to 2832 mm
and tends to rise from southwest to northeast (from the
mouth estuary to the river’s origin) region. It is apparent that
the orographic effect is bound to procure a high amount of
rainfall in the upper reaches of the basin. It seems like
erosivity factor blended with the distribution of rainfall and
was quite high in the upper part of the basin (Fig. 3).
Soil Erodibility Factor (K): K factor determines the
detachability of the soil, potential runoff and sediment
transportability of the region. K value varies with soil
textural class. K value is low (about 0.05-0.15) for the fine-
textured soil, which is quite resistant to detachment and also
for coarser soil that can easily be detachable but has high
infiltration rate and low runoff. However, its value from
0.45-0.65 for the soil with high silt content is more
susceptible to get eroded12.
The K factor value in the basin varies from 0.02 to 0.27. The
lower K value has pertained over the exposed lateritic zone
of this region because of its inherent characteristics of
leaching and hard undetachable surface, which are quite
resistant to erosion. Most of the other parts have fallen under
moderate erodibility zone except a small portion from the
lower and upper reaches of the basin (Fig. 4).
Topographic Factors (L S): The slope length and soil
erosion rate seem to be positively correlated with each other
where the slope length doubles, the erosion rate accelerates
by 1.5 times14. The slope length (L) is seen
greater along the streamlines within the Achara basin (Fig.
5) which is quite vulnerable to extreme soil erosion. Slope
steepness (S) is another key factor influencing erosion rate13.
Slope steepness varies from 0.09 to 3.32 in the basin (Fig.

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6). Higher values of the same are observed in the hilly areas
particularly along the banks of the streams where the sites
are under excessive soil erosion.
Cover Management Factor (C Factor): The vegetal cover
has a significant bearing on the value of the C factor and it
has been fluctuated between 0 to 1. The lower value of C
factor is an indication of erosion-resistant land; however,
high value of the same denotes most vulnerable land to
erosion20. Soil erodibility varies with land cover24. Its
assessment is based on the type of agricultural land, cropping
pattern, tillage-management practices and vegetation
cover18. Besides this, deforestation accelerates the rate of
soil erosion along with intensive rainfall25.

Fig. 3: R factor

Fig. 4: K factor

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Fig. 5: L factor

Fig. 6: S factor

The C’s highest values are observed in the areas of barren
and fallow land while lowest is observed at vegetation-
covered areas along the major streams of the Achara river
(Fig. 7).
Conservation Practice Factor (P): Various practices have
been undertaken to reduce soil erosion like contour farming,
terrace farming, embankments and bund construction as
support practice factors in the RUSEL model1.
Bhattacharyya et al3 studied soil degradation in various agro-
climatic zones in India and suggested soil conservation
methods like mulching, terracing, bunding, ridging,
furrowing etc. applicable to lessen its intensity.
Here, it is assumed that vegetation-covered areas do not
come under any conservation practices. In fig. 8, a low value
of P interprets the least prone to soil erosion with effective
conservation practices. Contradictory to this, P’s upper limit
is an indication of least or absence of conservative practices.
Exposed hilltops, barren land and agricultural land alongside
the channel in the study region are associated with high value
of P factor and the same is decreased in the areas covered by
the vegetation.

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Fig. 7: C Factor

Fig. 8: P factor

Table 3
Achara watershed: Annual soil loss estimation
Soil Erosion (t ha-1year-1) Class Area (km2) Area in Percentage
0-5 Low 55.26 22.19
5.01-10 Moderate 59.28 23.81
10.01-15 Moderate-High 53.07 21.31
15.01-25 High 39.27 15.77
25.01-35 Very High 14.21 5.71
35.01-50 Severe 10.30 4.14
above 50 Critical 17.86 7.17
Watershed Average Annual Soil Loss = 18.81 (t ha year-1)
-1

Potential Annual Soil Loss Estimation (A): Table 3 close to the country’s (India) annual mean soil loss i.e. 16.35
illustrates that the average annual soil loss estimated for the t ha-1year1 16. Its magnitude ranges from 0 to 284.47t ha-1
Achara watershed is about 18.81t ha -1year1, which is quite year-1. Most of the basin lies under low to moderately high

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 Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

soil loss category i.e. 167.61 sq. km (about 67.31 %). The
area of 39.27 sq. km. is the high erosion-prone area in the
Achara basin.
Severe and critical soil erosion-prone areas are observed
particularly along the main channel tract, bare lands and over
the hills with a steep gradient, which account more than 35 t
ha-1 year-1 occupying about 12% of the total basin area (Fig.
9).
Sediment Delivery Ratio: “Sediment Delivery Ratio (SDR)
is the actual amount of sediment transported from the source
of soil erosion to the point of measurement of a catchment
compared to the total amount of soil erosion over the same
area at that point in a given period”10.
The SDR is highly erratic and varies with changing spatio-
temporal conditions. Lesser value of SDR (<1.0) indicates
the tendency of eroded material not to move far and it gets
deposited at the nearby locations. The main stream slope has
been harnessed for the computation of the delivery ratio in
the study area. The gradient of the main channel and the SDR
have a certain kind of correlation as the slope gradient of the
channel which ranges between 0 to 43 percent;
consequently, SDR is also varied from 0.01 to 0.627.

Fig. 9: Average annual soil erosion within Achara basin

Fig. 10: Sediment delivery ratio within Achara basin

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It appears that SDR is higher at the places with a steep slope
and in the lower part of the watershed, whereas the rate of
transportation of eroded material in the rest of the watershed
is relatively low (Fig 10).
Sediment Yield in Achara Watershed: Soil erosion leads
to decrease the fertility of the land. Contrary to this,
deposition of the eroded geomaterial in the low-lying areas
and depressions within the river course reduce the water
holding capacity of the river, which in turn increases the
flood risk in the future17. Fractional amount of total eroded
material from the basin reached to the channel outlet is
known as sediment yield. The remaining material is
deposited either in the sites where gradient considerably
declines towards downslope or within the channel itself. In
general, sediment deposition tends to be more in rills, field
margins and over the slopes22.
The average sediment yield estimated in the main channels
of Achara river is 8.50 t ha-1 year-1. A large amount of eroded
sediments spread over the downstream lower plains of the
basin. The eroded material also gets accumulated in the
mangrove swamps of the Achara estuary (Fig. 11). The
highest mean sediment yield i.e. 12.85 and 9.82 t ha-1 year-1
gained by the subwatersheds of AS-VII and AS-VI
respectively which are located in the lower estuarine part of
the basin, while the rest of the watersheds have moderate
mean sediment yield (6 to 8.4 t ha-1 year-1) (Fig. 12).

Fig. 11: Sediment yield in Achara basin

Fig. 12: Sub-watershed wise mean sediment yield

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 Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

Sediment Yield in Achara Estuary: The eroded material is
transported through rills, streams and the main channel
finally deposited in the estuary. The estimated mean
sediment yield of the Achara estuary is about 11.19 t ha-1
year-1. It is high along the sinusoidal curves in the estuary
where transported sediment material naturally gets space to
settle down. A massive amount of sediment deposited in the
tributary branch of the estuary as the bulk of the eroded soil
transported by the tributary was deposited there with higher
SDRs i.e. 0.15 due to the shortest distance from the outlet
and barrier of the constructed bridge (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13: Sediment yield in Achara estuary

Table 4
Sediment yield in Achara estuary
Sediment Area (sq m) Area (%)
Yield(t/ha/year)
0.01-10 2376590.00 59.67
10.01-20 790155.00 19.84
20.01-30 453267.00 11.38
30.01-40 246123.00 6.18
40.01-50 40092.40 1.01
Above 50 76843.90 1.93

(a)

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Disaster Advances Vol. 14 (7) July (2021)

(b)

(c)

(d)
Fig. 14: Sedimentation within Achara estuary
(a) and (b) Sediment yield in the form of lateral bars within the estuary
(c) and (d) Sediment yield in the form of middle bars within the estuary

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 Disaster Advances
Conclusion
Soil erosion risk assessment and estimation of sediment
yield are most important for the maintenance of basin health.
Presence of undulating hilly surface, heavy rainfall and
barren sloping exposed laterite grounds are the governing
factors for the estimated average annual soil loss (18.81t ha-
1
year-1) of Achara basin.
The highest erosional rate (more than 50 t ha-1 year-1) is
observed along the stream flow, main channel and slopes of
the basin. Eroded material is accumulated at the gentle
slopes and junctions of the channels in the basin. The
sediment yield at the mouth of the basin causes
sedimentation problem in the estuary witnessed in the form
of sand bars and mudflats reduce its storage capacity and
subsequently increase the risk of flooding which will be
disastrous in the future.
In order to minimize the vulnerability of soil loss and
sedimentation on a large scale, various agronomic and
mechanical soil conservative practices should be
implemented within the basin. Dredging is another
alternative that can be carried out to maintain the flow of the
channel without disrupting its hydraulic equilibrium.
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