SPATIAL PREDICTION OF SOIL EROSION RISK IN THE DNIEPER RIVER BASIN USING REVISED UNIVERSAL SOIL LOSS EQUATION AND GIS TECHNOLOGY

The paper presents the internal structure of the geomorphological system and performs geo-modeling of water-erosion processes in the basin of the Dnieper river. The aim of research – spatial prediction of soil erosion hazard within the boundaries of the Dnieper River catchment basin using the revised universal soil loss equation and GIS technologies. To simulate potential soil erosion loss caused by precipitation we used a modified empirical and statistical model RUSLE. Determined that land of erosion hazard makes up 20.4% or 560 thousand ha of the total arable land area. The largest number of sub-basins with high erosive-accumulative potential are in the forest-steppe and steppe zones, in the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper, respectively; the specific area of land at erosion risk in some sub-basins amounts to 47%. The results of the spatial prediction of water-erosion processes presented make it possible to identify discretely distributed priority needs for the implementation of adaptive-landscape anti-erosion design with elements of soil conservation agriculture on the whole territory of the transboundary Dnieper basin