Quantification of Soil Erosion Using Remote Sensing and GIS: The Case of the Anguededou Watershed

The Anguededou watershed belongs to the Anguededou river hydrographic system. It is located in the Abidjan district in southern Côte d’Ivoire. The present study aims to quantify water erosion of soils in the Anguededou watershed using remote sensing and GIS. The USLE (Universal Soil Loss Equation) model was chosen to quantify and spatialize water erosion processes at the watershed scale. This model, already implemented in different environments and at different scales, takes into account five determining factors in erosion processes, including: the aggressiveness of rainfall, the erodibility of soils, the inclination and length of the slope, as well as the vegetation cover and the means put in place to combat soil erosion. This study is part of a sustainable management approach for peri-urban watersheds. The result from the combination of the different factors indicates a soil loss on the Anguededou watershed which varies from 0 to 250 t/ha/year with an average of 41.27t/ha/year. The results obtained allow the identification of areas at the basin scale where interventions are needed to limit soil degradation processes. Soil loss from upstream to downstream of the catchment area could contribute in the long term to pollution and silting of the lagoon, thus causing a drastic reduction in the water surface area.