Abstract

PEREZ-NIETO, S.; ARELLANO-MONTERROSAS, J. L.; IBANEZ-CASTILLO, L. A.  and  HERNANDEZ-SAUCEDO, F. R.. Estimate of the water erosion caused by hurricane Stan in the coastal basins of Chiapas, Mexico. Terra Latinoam [online]. 2012, vol.30, n.2, pp.103-110. ISSN 2395-8030.

To assess the water erosion resulting from the extreme rainfall caused by Hurricane Stan in October 2005, in the Huixtla, Huehuetán and Coatán river basins, located in the Mexican state of Chiapas, the Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) was applied using the map algebra technique. Maps were prepared for each of the USLE factors for the years 1990 and 2005 (before and after Hurricane Stan), and the USLE was applied at the sub-basin level. In order to classify the erosion results, seven water erosion categories were used: negligible, from 0 to 5; incipient, 5 to 10; moderate, 10 to 50; severe, 50 to 200; very severe, 200 to 500; extreme, 500 to 1000; and very extreme, for values above 1000 Mg ha-1 yr-1. In November 2005, the largest percentage was concentrated in the severe for the Huixtla and Huehuetán basin (with 39.08 and 20.36% of basin areas). As for the Coatán basin, the highest percentage of soil loss was in the very severe range (with 29.87% of its area belonging to this category). Just over onetenth of the area covered in this study had soil loss rates in the very extreme range, with values above 1000 Mg ha-1 yr-1. The results obtained are related to the physiographic, topographic and soil conditions of the basins studied, but especially to the vegetation conditions and the magnitude of the extreme rainfall caused by hurricane Stan.

Keywords : water erosion; USLE; hurricane Stan; Chiapas.

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