ANALISIS TINGKAT EROSI MENGGUNAKAN METODE USLE (UNIVERSAL SOIL LOSS EQUATION) BERBASIS SPASIAL DI KABUPATEN KUNINGAN

Abstract

Cultivation that is carried out continuously generally has intensive land management (Sidiq, 2017). Intensive tillage practices can damage soil aggregates, which makes them more susceptible to erosion (Putriawan et al., 2024). Irresponsible management actions without heeding soil conservation principles can damage the land which has an impact on the expansion of critical land (Akbar et al., 2020). The purpose of this research is to analyze the distribution of erosion and determine the appropriate conservation direction in Kuningan Regency. The method used is the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) with the parameters of rainfall Erosivity (R), soil erodibiliats (K), length and slope (LS), land cover management (C), and conservation measures (P). Spatial analysis was conducted using ArcGis software by integrating monthly rainfall data in 2024 from CHIRPS, soil type data from BPBD, DEMNAS data from geospatial information agency, Sentinel-2A image from Sentinel Hub Eo Browser. The research location is in Kuningan Regency, West Java. The results showed that the research area was dominated by very light (85%) and light (14.27%) hazard classes, while medium (0.49%) and heavy (0.003%) classes only covered a very small area. The determinats of erosion rates are different in each area of the study case. Conservation direction given include planting ground cover crop and implementing contour systems.