CONSOLIDATION OF SOIL EROSION RISK AREAS IN SEVERAL CADASTERS OF KOMÁRNO COUNTY

The process of semi-automated consolidation of agricultural land threated by water erosion solves issues on the level of individual farm/parcel. It is based on some prerequisites which involve: i) use of vectorised layers of land evaluation units (BPEJ) and digital terrain model (DTM), ii) land parcel identification system delineated as digitalized layers on actual orthophotomaps – LPIS agricultural land-use units (ALU). The basic scenario of land consolidation results from the legal regulations of agricultural land protection in Slovak Republic (Act No 220/2004 Coll., §5) and technical norm STN 75 4501: “Erosion control in agricultural land”. The consolidation process consists of several processing steps: 1) identification of erosion risk areas, 2) design of the optimal arrangement of ALU (size and geometry, shape, accessibility for mechanization and combination of the above factors), and 3) recommendation of erosion control measures applied for individual ALUs. The presented system was tested and applied in selected cadasters of Komárno county (divided into 389 ALUs with a total area of 13,455 ha). Index of soil erosion risk degree (SOEP) was estimated with USLE-based model in GIS and resulted in new design of consolidated parcels. Combining this data and anti-erosion effect of cultivated crops (calculated as Cp factor), the priorities for soil erosion control were proposed and displayed on the map. Each priority was classified according to SOEP index and ALU size. Presented semi-automatic soil erosion consolidation algorithm can provide useful tool for land use planners, helping them facilitate implementation of measures eliminating unfavourable erosion processes.