Rathnayake, W. M. U. K. <br/><br/>
Application of GIS for soil erosion control planning :  a case study of Kandy district, Sri Lanka 

 - Bangkok :  Asian Institute of Technology,  1999 
 - 64 leaves 
 - Thesis ;  no. AC-99-32 .
 - Asian Institute of Technology.  Thesis ;  no. AC-99-32 .
<br/><br/> A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development 
<br/><br/>Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 
<br/><br/> Soil erosion is a major environmental issue posing threat to sustainable agriculture. For  effective erosion control, it is needed to estimate the soil loss and to identify the key factors  using an effective and accurate method.  Thematic maps of R-factor, K-factor, L-factor, S-factor, C-factor, P- factor and population  density for two different years were prepared from the information of rainfall data, soil  analysis, contour map, landuse maps and population data respectively. Soil erosion maps,  1981 and 1993 for Kandy district, Sri Lanka were prepared with combining the all derived  information of USLE using GIS facilities. The maps showing the changes between two time  periods for erosion, rainfall, landuse and population density were developed to identify the  effects of selected parameters on soil erosion in the study area.  The results show the increment of the level of soil erosion with the time, mainly due to the  variation of rainfall and it can be reduced changing the pattern of land uses, while the other  factors such as soil and slope remain same. It can be seen a relationship between the changes  of population density and that of land uses, which are more related to erosion and a  methodology should develop to correlate these in detail.  
<br/><br/><label>Subjects--Topical Terms: </label><br/>Geographic information systems<br/>Soil conservation--Sri Lanka--Kandy