Analysis of Spatial Trend of Rainfall Erosivity in Iran

Understanding the alteration of rainfall characteristics and their effect on soil erosion takes heed of soil and water conservationists. However, spatial trends of effective factors have not been considered well. The present study has focused on the analysis of the spatial of rainfall erosivity index (R factor) in Iran. Towards this attempt, R factor time series were investigated from 18 stations from 1971 to 1992 distributed throughout the country. Spatial mapping of R factor were performed using SURFER 9.0 software. The Kriging interpolation method was also used for characterizing the magnitude of observed changes. The spatial distribution of annual rainfall erosivity showed a decreasing trend in the north of Iran and increasing trend towards the southern parts of the country. The results also demonstrated a creeping change in climate increased the risk of soil erosion in the entire country and improvement of managerial soil conservation treatments would be therefore a vital task for soil and water managers and decision makers

Keywords:

Iran , Soil conservation , Soil erosion , Spatial Pattern , USLE