• Proceedings of the KSRS Conference
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• 2005.10a
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• pp.361-364
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• 2005

The use of remotely sensed data and geographic information system (GIS) to develop conservation-oriented watershed management strategies on Imha Dam, Korea, is presented. The change of land use for study area was analyzed using multi-temporal Landsat imagery. A soil loss model was executed within a GIS environment to evaluate watershed management strategies in terms of soil loss. In general, remotely sensed data provide efficient means of generating the input data required for the soil loss model. Also, GIS allowed for easy assessment of the relative erosion hazard over the watershed under the different land use change options. The soil loss model predicted substantial declines in soil loss under conservation-oriented land management compared to current land management for Imha Dam. The results of this study indicate that soil loss potential (5,782,829 ton/yr) on Imha Dam in 2003 is approximately 1.27 times higher than that (4,557,151 ton/yr) in 1989. This study represents the first attempt in the application of GIS technology to watershed conservation planning for Imha Dam. The procedures developed will contribute to the evolution of a decision support system to guide the land planning and dam management in Imha Dam.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.59 no.6
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• pp.109-125
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• 2017

This study aimed to develop a parcel-unit soil loss estimation tool embedded in Excel worksheet, USLExls, required for the design of contaminated farmland restoration project and to analyze the impact of the project carried out soil-filling work on soil loss. USLE method was adopted for the estimation of average annual soil loss in a parcel unit, and each erosivity factor in the USLE equation was defined through the review of previous studies. USLExls was implemented to allow an engineer to try out different combinations just by selecting one among the popular formulas by each factor at a combo box and to simply update parameters by using look-up tables. This study applied it to the estimation of soil loss before and after soil-filling work at Dong-a project area. The average annual soil loss after the project increased by about 2.4 times than before on average, and about 60 % of 291 parcels shifted to worse classes under the classification criteria proposed by Kwak (2005). Although average farmland steepness was lower thanks to land grading work, the soil loss increased because the inappropriate texture of the cover soil induced the soil erosion factor K to increase from 0.33 before to 0.78 after the soil-filling work. The results showed that the selection of cover soil for soil-filling work should be carefully considered in terms soil loss control and the estimation of change in soil loss should be mandatory in planning a contaminated farmland restoration project.

• Journal of Wetlands Research
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• v.21 no.spc
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• pp.98-106
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• 2019

The coefficient and exponent of the MUSLE(Modified Universal Soil Loss Equation) runoff factor in the SWAT(Soil and Water Assessment Tool) model are 11.8 and 0.56 respectively, which are equally applied to the estimation of soil erosion regardless of land use. they could derive overestimation or underestimation of soil erosion, which can cause problems in the selection of soil erosion-vulnerable area and evaluation of reduction management. However, there are no studies about the estimation of coefficients and exponent for the MUSLE runoff factor by land use and their applicability to the SWAT model. Thus, in order to predict soil erosion and sediment behavior accurately through SWAT model, it is necessary to estimate the coefficient and exponent of the MUSLE runoff factor by land use and evaluate its applicability. In this study, the coefficient and exponent of MUSLE runoff factor by land use were estimated for Gaa-cheon Watershed, and the differences in soil erosion and sediment from SWAT model were analyzed. The coefficient and exponent of runoff factor estimated by this study well reflected the characteristics of soil erosion in domestic highland watershed. Therefore, in order to apply the MUSLE which developed based on observed data of US agricultural basin to the domestic watershed, it is considered that a sufficient modification and supplementation process for the coefficient and exponent of the MUSLE runoff factor depending on land use is necessary. The results of this study can be used as a basic data for selecting soil erosion vulnerable area in the non-point source management areas and establishing and evaluating soil erosion reduction management.

• Advances in environmental research
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• v.9 no.4
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• pp.251-273
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• 2020

Soil degradation has become a major worldwide environmental problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid climate zones due to irregular rainfall and the intensity of storms that frequently generate heavy flooding. The main objective of this study is the use of geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to quantify and to map the soil losses in the Wadi Saida watershed (624 ㎢) through the revised universal soil loss equation model and a proposed model based on the surface erosive runoff. The results Analysis revealed that the Wadi Saida watershed showed moderate to moderately high soil loss, between 0 and 1000 t/㎢/year. In the northern part of the basin in the region of Sidi Boubkeur and the mountains of Daia; which are characterized by steep slopes, values can reach up to 3000 t/㎢/year. The two models in comparison showed a good correlation with R = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.43; the use of the erosive surface runoff parameter is effective to estimate the rate of soil loss in the watersheds. The problem of soil erosion requires serious interventions, particularly in basins with disturbances and aggressive climatic parameters. Good agricultural practices and forest preservation areas play an important role in soil conservation.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.58 no.6
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• pp.55-69
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• 2016

RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation) is the empirical formular widely used to estimate rates of soil erosion caused by rainfall and associated overland flow. Among the factors considered in RUSLE, rainfall erosivity factor (R factor) is the major one derived by rainfall intensity and characteristics of rainfall event. There has been developed various methods to estimate R factor, such as energy based methods considering physical schemes of soil erosion and simple methods using the empirical relationship between soil erosion and annual total rainfall. This study is aimed to quantitatively evaluate the variation among the R factors estimated using different methods for South Korea. Station based observation (minutely rainfall data) were collected for 72 stations to investigate the characteristics of rainfall events over the country and similarity and differentness of R factors calculated by each method were compared in various ways. As results use of simple methods generally provided greater R factors comparing to those for energy based methods by 76 % on average and also overestimated the range of factors using different equations. The variation coefficient of annual R factors was calculated as 0.27 on average and the results significantly varied by the stations. Additionally the study demonstrated the rank of methods that would provide exclusive results comparing to others for each station. As it is difficult to find universal way to estimate R factors for specific regions, the efforts to validate and integrate various methods are required to improve the applicability and accuracy of soil erosion estimation.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.3B
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• pp.221-232
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• 2011

Applicability of three soil erosion models for burnt hillslopes was evaluated. The models were estimated with the data from plots established after tremendous wildfire occurred in the east coastal region. Soil erosion and surface runoff were simulated by the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) and the Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) of application mode for disturbed forest areas and the Soil Erosion Model for Mountain Areas (SEMMA) developed for burnt hillslopes. Simulated sediment yield and surface runoff were compared with the measured those. In maximum value of sediment yield, three models was under-predicted and RUSLE and WEPP had difference of over two times. SEMMA showed the best model response coefficient, determination coefficient and the model efficiency. In application of models to the soil erosion according to the elapsed year after wildfire, all models were underestimated in initial stage disturbed by wildfire. Evaluation of models in this burnt hillslopes was shown the tends to under-predict soil erosion for larger measured values. Although a lot of sediment can be generated in small rainfall event as fine-grained soil of the high water repellency was exposed excessively right after wildfire, this under-prediction was shown that those models have a limit to estimate the weighted factors by wildfire.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.22 no.5
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• pp.83-91
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• 2006

Recently, the intensive rainstorm possibly induced by global warming plays a key role on the instability of railway adjacent slopes. The instability of slopes results as covering and loss of railway lines induced by slided soil mass. According to the site investigation on the failed slopes triggered by rainfall, low types of slope failure were observed: shallow, intermediate, gully erosion, and soil-rock interface failures. The observation reveals the different characteristics of slope failure depending on the thickness of soil layer, morphological features of slope, etc. Based upon the observations, flume tests were conducted to analyze the sliding mechanism of each failure. The variables of flume test are soil layer thickness, rainfall intensity, and morphology of slope under the constant condition of the percentage of fine, initial soil moisture content, slope angle and compaction energy. Test results show that shallow failure was mostly observed from the surface of the slope and caused by the soil erosion; in addition, compared to the other types of failure, the occurrence of initial erosion is late, however, the development of erosion is fast. In gully erosion failure, the collected water from the water catchment area helps erosion of the upper soil layer and transfer of residual corestone, which impedes the erosion process once the upper soil layers are eroded and corestone are exposed. The soil-rock interface failure shows the most fast initial erosion process among the failure types. Interestingly, the common feature observed from the different types of failure was the occurrence of the initial deformation near the toe of slopes which implies the existence of surbsurface flow along the downslope direction.

• Journal of The Korean Society of Agricultural Engineers
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• v.65 no.3
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• pp.29-42
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• 2023

Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) is suggested and employed in the policy to conserve soil resources and to manage the impact of development, since soil loss is very essential to nonpoint source pollution management. The equation requires only five factors to estimate average annual potential soil loss, USLE is simplicity provides benefits in use of the equation. However, it is also limitation of the model, since the estimated results are very sensitive to the five factors. There is a need to examine the application procedures. Three approaches to estimate potential soil loss were examined, In the first approach, all factors were prepared with raster data, soil loss were computed for each cell, and sum of all cell values was determined as soil loss for the watersheds. In the second approach, the mean values for each factor were defined as representing USLE factors, and then the five factors were multiplied to determine soil loss for the watersheds. The third approach was same as the second approach, except that the Vegetative and Mechanical measure was used instead of the Cover and management factor and Support practice factor. The approaches were applied in 38 watersheds, they displayed significant difference, moreover no trends were detected for the soil loss at watersheds with the approaches. Therefore, it was concluded that there is a need to be developed and provided a typical guideline or public systems so that soil loss estimations have consistency with the users.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.37 no.4
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• pp.245-250
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• 2004

Farmers typically apply the dressed soil (coarse saprolite) for various reasons in the sloped upland with high altitude in Kangwon province. However, little researches on the impacts of application of dressed soil in uplands were conducted. Therefore, it is necessary to assess soil quality in this area and to study adverse effects on soil and water due to application of dressed soil. Coarse saprolite itself showed signiScantly poor chemical properties, Particularly P and organic matter contents were not enough for crops to grow. With respect to biological qualities such as enzyme activity and microbial population, coarse saprolite itself showed poor qualities. For example, bacterial population in coarse saprolite contains six times or ten times smaller populations. Based on survey at Jawoon-ri in Hongchon-gun, this region is susceptible for soil erosion due to massive amounts of coarse saprolite application, undesirably long slope length, etc. When weestimated soil loss, more than 40% of farming field in this region exceeded $11.2MT\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$. According to experiment by installing sediment basins. the sediment basin with up-down tillage and application with dressed soil had the highest soil loss and runofT, while the sediment basin with contour tillage and without soil dressing showed the lowest soil erosion and runoff.

• Korean Journal of Soil Science and Fertilizer
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.119-126
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• 2005

Soil erosion at Jawoon-Ri in Hongcheon highland is one of serious problems since saprolite piling on farmland has been typically practiced at 2-3 year's intervals. The objective of the case study was to survey management practices such as tillage, application of saprolite, and cultivating crops and to propose best management practices (BMP) to reduce soil loss in Jawoon-Ri, Hongcheon-Gun. Jawoon-Ri is located in the upper stream of Naerinchun. Upland areas of Jawoon 2 and 4Ri were 206.9 and 142.3 hectare, respectively. Estimation of soil loss in this study was based on USLE (Universal soil loss equation). Annual averaged soil losses were 15.6 MT per hectare in Jawoon-2Ri and 9.0 MT per hectare in Jawoon-4Ri, respectively. This case study tried to find methods to reduce soil erosion below tolerant soil loss level which is $11MT\;ha^{-1}\;yr^{-1}$. Estimated soil losses in more than 40% of uplands in Jawoon-2Ri and 4Ri were higher than tolerant soil loss level. Especially, edge of uplands undergone excessive soil erosion by concentrated runoff water. Therefore consolidation of upland edge was included as one of the proposed Best management practices BMP). The proposed BMP in this area were buffer strips, contour and mulching, diversion drain channel, grassed water-way, detour watet-way and cover crops and so on. Amounts for BMP requirements were 7,680 m for buffer strips, 123 ha (35%) for contour and mulching, 201 ha (57%) for diversion drain channel, 13,880 m for grassed water-way, 3,860 m for detour drainage, 8,365 m for sloping side consolidation and 3,492 ha for cover crops, respectively. Application of BMP are urgently needed in uplands which is direct conjunction with stream.