Improving estimation of water soil erosion by introducing lithological formation for environmental remediation

Nour El Houda Boughattas; Faten Katlane; Roua Amami; Shawn C Kefauver; Khaoula Abrougui; Mohamed Saber Naceur; Mariam Hameed; Hiba Ghazouani; Zahra Hussain; Sabah Ansar; Farooq Sher

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2023.116210

Improving estimation of water soil erosion by introducing lithological formation for environmental remediation

Environ Res. 2023 Aug 15;231(Pt 2):116210. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116210. Epub 2023 May 20.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ National Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory (LTSIRS), University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia; Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott-Meriem, University of Sousse, Chott Meriem, Tunisia.
² Higher Institute of Computer Science Ariana, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia.
³ Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott-Meriem, University of Sousse, Chott Meriem, Tunisia; International Society of Engineering Science and Technology, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
⁴ Integrative Crop Ecophysiology Group, Plant Physiology Section, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08028, Spain.
⁵ Higher Institute of Agronomy of Chott-Meriem, University of Sousse, Chott Meriem, Tunisia.
⁶ National Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Remote Sensing and GIS Laboratory (LTSIRS), University of Carthage, Tunis, Tunisia.
⁷ International Society of Engineering Science and Technology, Nottingham, United Kingdom; School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan.
⁸ International Society of Engineering Science and Technology, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Regional Centre for Field Crop Researches, Beja, 9000, Tunisia.
⁹ International Society of Engineering Science and Technology, Nottingham, United Kingdom; Institute of Zoology, University of the Punjab, Lahore, 54590, Pakistan.
¹⁰ Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, P.O. Box 10219, Riyadh, 11433, Saudi Arabia.
¹¹ Department of Engineering, School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, NG11 8NS, United Kingdom. Electronic address: Farooq.Sher@ntu.ac.uk.

PMID: 37217132
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116210

Abstract

Soil erosion is a serious and complex environmental problem worldwide, especially in the centre west of Tunisia. Whereas the construction of hill reservoirs is part of the soil and water conservation strategy, many of these have a siltation problem. Dhkekira is one of the smallest watersheds in central Tunisia whose most lithological formation consists of materials that are quite susceptible to water erosion. Due to the lack of low-scale lithological data, digital IR aerial photos with 2 m spatial resolution were considered. A semi-automatic classification of aerial photos, based on the image's textural indices is developed. The lithologic map extracted from aerial photos was used as input for ANSWERS-2000 water erosion model. Results obtained indicate first, with the semi-automatic classification of the mean and standard deviation of the thumbnail histograms that image output could help to give an idea about the existence of some surface lithological formation. The model applied to Dhkekira watershed showed that the spatial difference in water erosion was not caused only by land cover and slope, but also by lithological formation. The percentage of each lithological formation in sediment yield at the Dhkekira hill reservoir was estimated to be 69% sediment yield from Pleistocene and 19.7% from Lutetian-Priabonian.

Keywords: Environmental pollution; Lithological formation; Management strategies; Sustainability; Waste management and biowaste; Water erosion.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Conservation of Natural Resources / methods
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Environmental Restoration and Remediation*
Soil
Soil Erosion*
Water

Substances

Water
Soil