Abstract
The Main Ethiopian Rift (MER) is an area of extreme topography underlain by post-Miocene volcanic rocks, Jurassic limestone and a Precambrian basement. A prime concern is the rapid expansion of wide gullies that are impinging on agricultural land. We investigate the potential contribution of Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) data and geomorphologic parameters to discern patterns and features of gully erosion in the MER. Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC), Support Vector Machine (SVM), and Minimum Distance (MD) classifiers are used to extract different gully shapes and patterns. Several spatial textures based on Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrices (GLCMs) are then generated. Afterwards, the same classifiers are applied to the ASTER data combined with the spatial texture information. We used geomorphologic parameters extracted from SRTM and ASTER DEMs to describe the geomorphologic setting and the gullies’ shapes. The classifications show accuracies varying between 67% and 89%. Maps derived from this quantitative analysis allow the monitoring and mapping of land degradation as a direct result of gully-widening. This study reveals the utility of combining ASTER data and spatial textural information in discerning areas affected by gully erosion.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Martínez-Casasnovas J A (2003) A spatial information technology approach for the mapping and quantification of gully erosion [J]. Catena, 50: 293–308
Valentin C, Rajot J L, Mitja D (2004) Responses of soil crusting, runoff and erosion to fallowing in the sub-humid and semi-arid regions of West Africa [J]. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 104(2): 287–302
Poesen J, Valentin C (2003) Preface of special issue of Catena: gully erosion and global change [J]. Catena, 50:(2–4): 87–89
Singh G, Babu P, Narain L S, et al. (1992) Soil erosion rates in India [J]. J. Soil Water Conserv., 47(1): 97–99
Ygarden L (2003) Rill and gully development during and extreme winter runoff event in Norway [J]. Catena, 50(2–4): 217–242
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (1965) Soil erosion by water. Some measures for its control on cultivated lands. Rome [R]. FAO Agriculture Paper 81
Hudson N W (1985) Soil conservation. London: Batsford. Conservation practices and runoff water disposal on steep lands. Moldenhauer W C, Hudson N W (Eds). Conservation farming on steep lands [M]. Ankeny: SWCS
Boardman J, Parsons A J, Holland R, et al. (2003) Development of badlands and gullies in the Sneeuberg, Great Karoo, South Africa [J]. Catena, 50: 165–184
Shibru D, Wolfgang R, Peter S (2003) Assessment of gully erosion in eastern Ethiopia using photogrammetric techniques [J]. Catena, 50: 273–291
Ireland H A, Sharpe C F, Eargle D H (1939) Peinciples of gully erosion in the piedmont of south Carolina [R]. Washington DC: US Department of Agriculture, Technival Bulletin 633
Verstraeten G, Poesen J, de Vente J, et al. (2003) Sediment yield variability in Spain: a quantitative and semiqualitative analysis using reservoir sedimentation rates [J]. Geomorphology, 50(4): 327–348
Poesen J, Vandekerckhove L, Nachtegaele J, et al. (2002) Gully erosion in dryland environments [M]// Bull M J, Kirkby M J (Eds). Dryland Rivers: Hydrology and Geomorphology of Semi-arid Channels. Chichester, UK: John Wiley and Sons
Billi P, Dramis F (2003) Geomorphological investigation on gully erosion in the the Rift valley and the northern highlands of Ethiopia [J]. Catena, 50(2–4): 353–368
Yusuke K (2007) Regional scaled mapping of gully erosion sensitivity in Western Kenya [J]. African Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 1(3): 49–52
Bouaziz M, Leidig M, Knoche M, et al. (2009) Contribution of remote sensing and GIS to the qualitative assessment of eroded surfaces in the main Ethiopian rift [J]. Publikationen der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Photogrammetrie, Fernerkundung und Geoinformation: 175–182
Sagri M (1998) Land resources inventory, environmental changes analysis and their application to agriculture in the Lakes region Ethiopia [R]. European Commission Contract TS3-CT92-0076 Fina report
Liberti M, Simoniello T, Carone M T, et al. (2009) Mapping badland areas using LANDSAT TM/ETM satellite imagery and morphological data [J]. Journal of Geomorphology, 106: 333–343
Daba S (2003) An investigation of the physical and socioeconomic determinants of soil erosion in the Hararghe highlands, eastern Ethiopia [J]. Land Degrad. Develop., 14(1): 69–81
Nyssen J, Poesen J, Moeyersons J, et al. (2002) Impact of road building on gully erosion risk: A case study from the northern Ethiopian highlands [J]. Earth Surf. Process. Landforms, 27(12): 1267–1283
Vrieling A, de Jong S M, Sterk G, et al. (2008) Timing of erosion and satellite data: A multi-resolution approach to soil erosion risk mapping [J]. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 10(3): 267–281
Giordano A, Marchisio C (1991) Analysis and correlation of the existing soil erosion maps in the Mediterranean basin [J]. Quaderni di Scienza del Suolo, 3: 97–132
Bocco G (1990) Gully erosion analysis using remote sensing and GIS [D]. Amsterdam: University of Amsterdam
Solè Ll, Clotet N, Gallart F, et al (1986) Análisis de las posibilidades de las imágenes TM en la detección de áreas degradadas en sectores montañosos [M]//Clotet N, Solè L l (Eds). Coumunicaciones Científicas de la I Reunión Científica del Grupo de Trabajo de Teledetección. Jaume Almera, Barcelona: Institut d’Investigacions Geolo`giques
Martínez-Casasnovas J A, Poch R M (1998) Estado de conservación de los suelos de la cuenca del embalse Joaquón Costa [J]. Limnetica, 14: 83–91
Wijaya A, Marpu P R, Gloaguen R (2008) Geostatistics texture classification of tropical rainforests in Indonesia [M]//Stein S, Bijker (Eds). Quality in Spatial Data Mining. CRC Book Series
Hall-Bayer M (2000) GLCM texture: A tutorial [R]. National Council on Geographic Information and Analysis Remote Sensing Core Curriculum
Jensen J R (2005) Thematic map accuracy assessment. Introductory digital image processing — A remote sensing Perspective [M]//Keith C Clarke (Eds). Prentice Hall Series in Geographic Information Science
Bailly J S, Arnaud M, Puech C (2007) Boosting: a classification method for remote sensing [J]. International Journal of Applied Earth Observation and Geoinformation, 7: 232–247
Liu X H, Skidmore A K, Oosten H V (2002) Integration of classification methods for improvement of land cover map accuracy [J]. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry & Remote Sensing, 56: 257–268
Manadhar R, Odeh I O, Ancev T (2009) Imroving the accuracy of land use and land cover classification of landsat data using post classification Enhancement [J]. Remote Sensing, 1: 330–344
Richards J A, Jia X (1999) Remote sensing digital image analysis (3rd Ed). [M]. Berlin: Springer-Verlag
Carrara A, Cardinali M, Detti R, et al. (1991) GIS techniques and statistical models in evaluating landslide hazard [J]. Earth Surf Proc Land, 16: 427–445
Maharaj R (1993) Landslide processes and landslide susceptibility analysis from an upland watershed: A case study from St Andrew, Jamaica, West Indies [J]. Eng Geol, 34: 53–79
Guzzetti F, Carrara A, Cardinali M, et al. (1999) Landslide hazard evaluation: A review of current techniques and their application in a multi-scale study, Central Italy [J]. Geomorphology, 31: 181–216
O’Callaghan J, Mark D (1984) The extraction of drainage networks from digital elevation data [J]. Computer Vision, Graphics and Image Processing, 28: 323–344
Tarboton D G. (1997) A new method for the determination of flow directions and upslope areas in grid digital elevation models [J]. Water Resour. Res., 33 (2): 309–319
Foody G M (2002) Status of land covers classification accuracy assessment [J]. Remote Sensing of Environment, 80: 185–201
Lu D, Weng Q (2005) Urban classification using full spectral information of LANDSAT ETM+ Imagery in Marion County, Indiana [J]. Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote Sensing, 71: 1275–1284
Hilsky H (1973) Erosion en Carcavas. Havana: Academia de Cieencias de Cuba (special publication) [J]. I. De Geologia
Sidorchuk A (1999) Dynamic and static models of gully erosion [J]. Catena, 37(3–4): 401–414
Leopold L B, Wolman G M, Miller J P (1964) Fluvial processes in geomorphology [M]. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company
Veldkamp A, Lambin E F (2001) Predicting land-use change [J]. Agriculture Ecosystems & Environment, 85(1–3): 1–6
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Supported by the German Academic Exchange Service.
Moncef Bouaziz is an environmental Engineer. The focus of his research is the monitoring of land degradation via remote sensing and GIS in arid and semiarid climate.
About this article
Cite this article
Bouaziz, M., Wijaya, A. & Gloaguen, R. Remote gully erosion mapping using aster data and geomorphologic analysis in the Main Ethiopian Rift. Geo-spat. Inf. Sci. 14, 246–254 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11806-011-0565-1
Received:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11806-011-0565-1