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Soil erosion risk, Sicilian Region
(1:250,000 scale)
M. Fantappièa, S. Prioria & E.A.C. Costantinia
a Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura,
CRA-ABP, Agrobiology and Pedology Research Center, Firenze, Italy
Published online: 15 Sep 2014.
To cite this article: M. Fantappiè, S. Priori & E.A.C. Costantini (2014): Soil erosion risk, Sicilian
Region (1:250,000 scale), Journal of Maps, DOI: 10.1080/17445647.2014.956349
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2014.956349
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SCIENCE
Soil erosion risk, Sicilian Region (1:250,000 scale)
M. Fantappie
`∗, S. Priori and E.A.C. Costantini
Consiglio per la Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, CRA-ABP, Agrobiology and Pedology
Research Center, Firenze, Italy
(Received 12 November 2013; resubmitted 28 July 2014; accepted 17 August 2014)
Assessing the risk of soil erosion caused by water at the regional level is important for current
and future planning of land use and environmental actions to combat land degradation. The
gravity of the risk depends not only on the rate of soil erosion by water, but also on other
factors, primarily soil depth and workability of the underlying rocks and sediments, which
may be used to calculate the eroded soil. We estimate the rate of erosion by water
(tons ha
21
year
21
) applying the Universal Soil Loss Equation model. The map of soil
content (tons ha
21
) to the effective rooting depth was divided by the map of soil erosion
rate to obtain the risk of erosion by water in Sicily, expressed in terms of years of complete
loss of soil cover. This map was intersected with a map of workability of the underlying
bedrock to give advice on where the cost of soil recovery by deep ripping and rock grinding
are very high. 8382.9 km
2
(32.6% of the Sicilian territory) were rated as at high or very
high risk (,100 years), of which 1230.9 km
2
developed on bedrock with low workability
and so very costly to be recovered.
Keywords: risk assessment; soil recovery; land degradation; rock workability; Mediterranean;
Sicily
1. Introduction
Soil erosion has been identified as one of the soil threats by the Thematic Strategy for Soil Protec-
tion of the European Union (Commission of European Communities, 2006) and the major cause
of land degradation in Italy (Costantini & Lorenzetti, 2013). The European Commission
encourages Member States to identify risk areas in order to promote soil protection measures.
According to the DPSIR framework (Driving forces, Pressure, State, Impact, Response), devel-
oped and used by the European Environment Agency (European Environment Agency, 1999),
the rate of soil erosion by water is an indicator of the state of the environment. The concept of
‘soil erosion risk’ implies an evaluation of the impacts of soil erosion on human health and eco-
systems. The direct impact of soil erosion by water is represented by the loss of the soil resource,
with consequent loss of its functions (ISRIC: http://www.isric.org/about-soils/functions-soil).
In Italy, as in many other European countries, most of the environmental actions and measures
to fight soil and land degradation are managed at a regional level; therefore, risk area identification
should primarily cover regional territories.
#2014 M. Fantappie
`
∗Corresponding author. Email: info@soilpro.eu
Journal of Maps, 2014
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2014.956349
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The rate of soil erosion by water has been estimated and mapped in the Sicilian territory
at different scales. There is work at both field and basin scale (Amore, Modica, Nearing, &
Santoro, 2004;Conoscenti, Di Maggio, & Rotigliano, 2008;De Jong et al., 1999), and maps
compiled at national (Costantini, Urbano, Bonati, Nino, & Fais, 2007;Costantini et al., 2009;
Grimm, Jones, Rusco, & Montanarella, 2003;Van der Knijff, Jones, & Montanarella, 1999,
2000;Van Rompaey, Bazzoffi, Jones, Montanarella, & Govers, 2003) and European scale
(Commission of European Communities, 1994;Kirkby et al., 2004;Le Bissonnais, Montier,
Jamagne, Daroussin, & King, 2002). There is currently no published map of soil erosion by
water compiled specifically for the Sicilian territory and considering the whole region (small
islands included).
The rate of soil erosion alone is not enough to indicate the risk of losing the soil resource,
since the degree of risk varies according to soil depth, as well as the rate of new soil for-
mation. In turn soil formation is determined by the weathering capability of the bedrock
and by the amount of new sediment deposition (fluvial, colluvial, aeolian or volcanic).
Another process of soil formation is driven by the ability of man to recover degraded land
(shallow soils or bare rock outcrops), through agricultural management practices, such as
deep ploughing, ripping, excavation and adding soil and sediment from various sources.
However, the possibility of recovering degraded land is strictly related to bedrock hardness
and workability.
This research work was aimed at producing a map of soil erosion risk in the Sicilian region,
expressed in terms of years to complete loss of soil cover to the effective rooting depth. The
degree of risk was estimated as a function of: (i) rate of soil erosion by water, and (ii) soil
rooting depth. In addition, an indication of where the economic costs of soil recovery are
higher was added to the highest risk classes. The identification of depositional areas was also a
part of the evaluation, since these lands are threatened by flooding, which is an off-site impact
of soil water erosion (Dazzi & Lo Papa, 2013).
2. Study area: climatic, geomorphological and geological setting
The administrative territory of the Sicilian Region consists of the main island of Sicily, three
archipelagos, and two isolated islands. The main island of Sicily covers an area of about
25,441 km
2
, while the Aeolian archipelago is formed by seven main islands (about 115 km
2
).
The Egadi archipelago encompasses three main islands and covers 37.5 km
2
, while the Pelagie
islands are 25.5 km
2
. The isolated islands of Pantelleria and Ustica cover 83 and 8.7 km
2
,
respectively.
The climate of Sicily is generally temperate Mediterranean, with mean annual temperatures
usually higher than 158C and dry months concentrated in the summer. The climatic regions of
Sicily are showed in Figure 1, according to the national climatic region map of ‘Soils of Italy’
(Costantini, Fantappie
`, & L’Abate, 2013). Most of the Sicilian region is characterized by Medi-
terranean to subtropical climate, partly semi-arid (MST2, Figure 1). The mountain areas
(Madonie, Sicani, Nebrodi and Peloritani ridges) are characterized by M2 and MST1 climatic
regions, which have relatively higher annual precipitation and lower potential evapotraspiration
(Table 1).
The continentality index, which is determined by the difference between the mean air temp-
erature of summer and winter, is similar in all the climatic regions (Table 1).
The study area is formed of four main geological units (Speranza et al., 1999): (i) the Calabro-
Peloritan ridge in the North-East, characterized by low- and high-grade metamorphic rocks,
namely phyllites, micashists, quartzites, marbles and gneiss; (ii) the Hyblean platform in the
South-East, characterized by poorly deformed limestone and calcarenites of African domain;
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(iii) the Maghrebian thrust belt in the central and western Sicily; (iv) the volcanic rocks of the Etna
volcano, northern part of the Iblei mounts, Aeolian archipelagos, Ustica, Pantelleria and Linosa
islands. The main litholotypes of Sicily are shown in Figure 2.
The soil maps of Italy (Costantini et al., 2013) shows six soil regions for Sicily (Figure 3),
which correspond to a typical assemblage of soil typologies, presenting different phenomenas
of soil erosion by water and different management practices. (Figures 4 –8).
Figure 1. Climatic regions of Sicily.
Table 1. Description of the climatic regions of Italy in the Sicilian region.
Climatic region
Mean annual
temperature Continentality
Annual
precipitation
Potential evapo-
transpiration
(8C) (8C) (mm) (mm)
M2 - Mediterranean suboceanic,
influenced by mountains
13.9 14.5 870 1069
M4 - Mediterranean
subcontinental to continental,
partly semiarid
15.0 15.1 604 1155
MST1 - Mediterranean to
subtropical, influenced by
mountains
15.5 13.9 811 1141
MST2 - Mediterranean to
subtropical, partly semiarid
16.7 14.2 607 1211
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3. Methods and data sources
3.1. Soil erosion by water
The rate of soil erosion by water (tons ha
21
year
21
) was obtained by applying the Universal Soil
Loss Equation (USLE) empirical model (Wischmeier & Smith, 1978). The USLE model was
selected because of the relatively limited data requirement, and greater simplicity (Ferro et al.,
1991;Kheir, Cerdan, & Abdallah, 2006;Rusco et al., 2007). The model is based on the equation
E=R×K×L×S×C×Plinking soil losses (E, tons ha
21
year
21
) to rainfall erosivity (R),
soil erodibility (K), slope length and steepness (LS), land cover and management (C) and conser-
vation practices (P). The USLE equation can also be written as E=Ep ×C×P, where Ep is the
potential soil erosion, which is given by Ep =R×K×L×S.
The rainfall erosivity (R) factor was estimated using the formula proposed for Sicily and other
Mediterranean territories by Ferro, Porto, and Bofu (1999):
R=0.5249∗
N
j=1
12
i=1
Pij2
Pj
N
⎛
⎜
⎜
⎜
⎝
⎞
⎟
⎟
⎟
⎠
1.59
where Ris the rainfall erosivity factor (Mj mm ha
21
hour
21
year
21
) for a period of Nyears, P
ij
is
the mean monthly precipitations of the ith month of the jth year, expressed as mm, and P
j
is the
mean annual precipitation of the jth year, expressed as mm.
Climatic data were retrieved from the national database of CRA-CMA (Consiglio per la
Ricerca e la Sperimentazione in Agricoltura, Unita
`di Ricerca per la Climatologia e la
Figure 2. Lithological map of Sicily according to bedrock workability.
4M. Fantappie
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Metereologia applicata all’Agricoltura), and consisted of 60 data points of mean annual and
monthly precipitation (1979 – 2008), on a 32 km grid throughout Sicily. The rainfall erosivity
factor was calculated for each of the 60 data points, and then interpolated for the whole island
using ordinary kriging (Figure 9).
The soil erodibility factor (K, in tons hour MJ
21
mm
21
) was mapped on the basis of
soil texture and soil organic carbon content of the topsoil (averaged for the first 50 cm of soil
depth) applying the coefficients of Stone and Hilborn (2012) (Table 2). Soil texture and soil
organic carbon content were derived from the 1:250,000 scale Soil Map of Sicily (Fantappie
`
et al., 2011). The soil erodibility factor was corrected using the reduction coefficient of
Poesen, Torri, and Bunte (1994) (e−0.04(Rc−10)) which considers the rock fragment cover R
c
(the
percentage of particles .2 mm diameter on the soil surface, including stoniness and rockiness).
In the case of volcanic soils we follow Van der Knijff et al. (1999) and assigned a K factor of 0.08.
Volcanic soils, which have low erodibility on the basis of their sandy texture, instead are highly
erodible because of their thixotropic characteristics.
The slope-length and slope gradient (LS) factors were derived from the Digital Terrain Model
of Sicily (20×20 m) using the formulas proposed by Wischmeier and Smith (1978), and revised
Figure 3. Soil regions of Sicily, according to the ‘Soil map of Italy’ (Costantini et al., 2013a, modified)
LEGEND- E: soils of Apennine of Calabria and Sicily on igneous and metamorphic rocks (mainly Cambi-
sols and Leptosols); F: soils of Etna volcano (mainly Leptosols, Cambisols, Regosols and Andosols); G:
soils of the hills of Calabria and Sicily on Tertiary calcareous rocks and sediments, with included alluvial
and coastal plains (mainly Cambisols, Vertisols and Luvisols); H: soils of the hills and mountains on lime-
stone and igneous rocks of Sicily (mainly Cambisols, Leptosols and Andosols); I: soils of the hills of Calab-
ria and Sicily on Tertiary clayey flysch, limestone, sandstone, gypsum and coastal plains (mainly Cambisols,
Luvisols, Vertisols and Regosols); L: soils of the alluvial and coastal plains of central and southern Italy
(mainly Cambisols, Calcisols, Luvisols and Vertisols). The white stars show the location of the following
pictures: 1- Figure 4;2-Figure 5;3-Figure 6;4-Figure 7;5-Figure 8.
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by McCool, Foster, Mutchler and Meyer (1987,1989):
L=sl
22.13
(sen
u
/0.086)/[3∗(sen
u
)0.8+0.56]/(1+(sen
u
/0.086)/[3∗(sen
u
)0.8+0.56])
S=(16.8∗sen
q
)−0.5
where Lis the slope length factor (adimensional) and Sis the slope gradient factor (adimensional),
sl is the slope length, expressed as meters,
u
is the slope gradient, expressed as radians. The
Figure 4. Bare slopes in the hills south of Palermo. On these slopes, soil is very shallow or missing.
Figure 5. Strongly eroded steep slope in the Nebrodi mountains.
6M. Fantappie
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formula chosen to calculate the slope gradient factor permits negative values for slope gradients
less than 3%, so we could delineate depositional and flat areas. The map of the potential rate of
soil erosion by water (E
p
, in tons ha
21
year
21
) was then obtained by multiplying the R, K, L and S
factors.
Three sources were selected and put together to map the land use of Sicily: the ‘CORINE
Land Cover map of Sicily’ of 2006 (De Jager, 2012); the ‘Land use map of Sicily at
1:250,000 scale’ (Regione Siciliana, 1994); and the ‘Map of wood categories and types of
Sicily’ (Regione Siciliana, 2010). The CORINE Land Cover map (100 m pixel size) was used
as the base map. The land use map of Sicily of 1994 was used to map citrus groves. The map
Figure 6. Evident soil flow in the clayey hills of inland Sicily.
Figure 7. Slope in western Sicily (near Salaparuta village). On the right of the picture a pine tree strip pro-
tects the slope from soil flows. On the left of the picture, where the slope is not protected, the soil flows are
clear.
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of wood categories and types for Sicily was used for woods and natural land. Nine main kinds of
land cover and management were recognized and grouped: A, Arable lands: crop monocultures;
B, Arable lands: crop associations; C, Vineyards; D, Shrublands and post fire vegetation; E, Olive
Figure 8. Terraced slopes on the northern part of Etna volcano, along the Alcantara valley.
Figure 9. Rainfall erosivity (R) factor and standard error map of the interpolation.
8M. Fantappie
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groves, fruit trees, eucalyptus plantations; F, Hay and pastures; G, Woods, conifers; I, Woods:
broadleaves, mixed woods, agroforestry; N, Citrus.
A C factor was calculated for each of the nine kinds of land use. A further 1926 georeferenced
sites were collected where no field evidence of soil erosion by water were detected. Land use for
these sites was obtained from published soil field surveys (Alliata & Dazzi, 1986;Ballatore & Fier-
otti, 1998;Bono et al., 1998;Dazzi, Fierotti, & Raimondi, 1992;Dazzi, Laudicina, Lo Papa, & Sca-
lenghe, 2001;Dazzi & Raimondi, 1986;Fierotti & Dazzi, 1994; Fierotti et al., 1989a,1989b;
Fierotti, Dazzi, Olivieri, & Raimondi, 1989;Fierotti et al., 1995;Fierotti, Dazzi, Raimondi, Olivieri,
1989;Fierotti & Romagnoli, 1967;Guaitoli, Matranga, Paladino, Perciabosco, & Pumo, 1989,
1998;Guaitoli et al., 2001;Olivieri, Dazzi, & Raimond, 1986;Raimondi, 1994;Raimondi,
1996a;Raimondi, 1996b;Raimondi, 1998;Raimondi & Dazzi, 1986;Raimondi, Dazzi, Marchia-
fava, & Paci, 1989;Raimondi, Fierotti, & Guaitoli, 1989;Raimondi & Dolce, 1996;Raimondi &
Indorante, 2001a,2001b;Raimondi, Indorante, & Sarno, 1997;Raimondi et al., 1999a,1999b). The
Ep rate corresponding to each of the 1926 sites was derived from the Ep map, and a mean value for
each of nine kinds of land use calculated. The C factors were calculated as:
C=Et
m
Ep
where Cis the land cover and management factors for each one of the 9 kinds of land use, Et is the
actual rate of soil erosion by water,
m
Ep is the mean Ep for each of the 9 kinds of land use. Since the
surveyors had indicated absence of soil erosion, Et was set to 2 ton ha
21
y
21
, which is considered a
‘tolerable soil erosion rate’ (Jones et al., 2012), which is therefore not visible to the naked eye. The
calibrated C factors were applied to the land use map, to obtain the land cover and management
factor.
The delineation of the terraced landscapes of Sicily (Barbera, Cullotta, Rossi Doria, Ru
¨hl, &
Rossi Doria, 2010) was used to map the P factor, with P equal to zero in the case of presence of
terraces, and equal to 1 in the case of absence.
The map of the actual rate of soil erosion by water (E, in tons ha
21
year
21
) was then obtained
by multiplying the three maps of Ep, C and P factors. Negative rates identified depositional and
flat areas.
Table 2. K factor coefficients as published by Stone and Hilborn (2012), converted in tons hour
MJ
21
mm
21
.
USDA Soil Texture Classes
Organic Matter Content
Less than 2% More than 2%
Sand 0.0040 0.0013
Loamy sand 0.0066 0.0053
Sandy loam 0.0184 0.0158
Loam 0.0448 0.0342
Silt loam 0.0540 0.0487
Silt 0.0561 0.0514
Sandy clay loam 0.0263 0.0263
Clay loam 0.0435 0.0369
Silty clay loam 0.0461 0.0395
Sandy clay 0.0277 0.0277
Silty clay 0.0356 0.0342
Clay 0.0316 0.0277
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3.2. Years to loss of the soil cover
The map of the quantity of soil cover to the effective rooting depth (tons ha
21
), was derived from
the Soil Map of Sicily (Fantappie
`et al. 2011), using the formula
Qs =
m
B×
m
D
where Qs is the mass of soil cover to the effective rooting depth (tons ha
21
),
m
Bis the mean bulk
density (kg dm
23
) of the soils of each delineation, and
m
Dis the mean effective rooting depth (dm)
of the soils in each delineation. The effective rooting depth value comes from the soil profile
description and refers to the depth where at least 30% of the soil mass can be penetrated by
plant roots, thus excluding rock fragments as well as indurated layers, such as petroplinthic, pet-
rocalcic, or petrogypsic horizons, and compacted horizons, such as fragipan (Costantini, 2007).
The map of the years necessary to completely lose soil cover to the effective rooting depth was
obtained using the formula:
Y=Qs
E
where Yare the number of years needed to completely loose the soil cover to the effective rooting
depth, Qs is the mass of soil cover to the effective rooting depth (tons ha
21
), and Eis the actual
rate of soil erosion by water (tons ha
21
year
21
). The map was subdivided into four empirical
classes of risk, making reference to the concept of ‘tolerable erosion’ and the years suggested
by the European Environmental Agency (European Environment Agency, 1998), as follows:
(i) low risk or not appreciable soil erosion where, potentially, more than 500 years could be
necessary for complete erosion of soil cover; (ii) Moderate risk, where the time for complete
erosion of soil cover could span between 100 and 500 years; (iii) High risk, where complete
erosion could span between 10 and 100 years; (iv) Very high risk, where complete erosion
could occur within 10 years.
The complete geoprocessing diagram of the methodology used, to estimate the soil erosion
rate and to estimate the soil erosion risk in terms of years, is shown in Figure 10.
3.3. Bedrock hardness and workability
Soil is an open system and thus soil loss by water erosion can be counterbalanced by other pro-
cesses, such as dust, volcanic, colluvial or fluvial deposition, soil formation by the natural process
of rock weathering, and human earth works. Artificial soil formation by deep ploughing of soils
lying on soft bedrock has been common practice in Italy for decades (Corti, Cocco, Brecciaroli,
Agnelli, & Seddaiu, 2013). More recently, the use of heavy machinery to reclaim shallow soils
(Figure 11) has also become a popular practice (Dazzi & Lo Papa, 2013). In the region of
Puglia, for instance, more than 20,000 ha have been converted from natural areas into agricultural
lands over the last three decades (Zdruli, 2013). The practice can be conducted using different
methods and machinery, which vary according to rock workability (the difficulty to excavate
and crumble rocks and sediments). Hence the nature of the lithotype has a major effect on the
costs needed to carry out the practice, and can render it economically unviable. Therefore, the
erosion of soils lying on hard and compact rocks, where soil recovery is very costly, must be con-
sidered more harmful than in other cases.
Figure 2 shows the distribution of the main lithotypes in the Sicilian Region (Regione Sicili-
ana, 2002), classified according to their hardness and compaction. Lithologies with low
10 M. Fantappie
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workability, (limestone and travertine, marble, gneiss, quartzite, migmatite and volcanic rocks),
are mostly widespread in the eastern and northern part of the main island, including Mounts Pelor-
itani and Iblei and Etna volcano, as well as on some smaller islands.
Figure 10. Geoprocessing diagram of the methodology used to produce the soil erosion risk map.
Figure 11. Back hoeing for artificial soil formation.
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The main Sicilian lithologies were therefore subdivided into three classes according to their
estimated workability. A qualitative classification was adopted since there is no specific and
exhaustive quantitative information on the costs of artificial soil formation from different
bedrock types. The lithologies with low costs of artificial soil formation (class 1) include: collu-
vial and alluvial deposits, and pyroclastic deposits, where artificial soil formation can be achieved
with deep ploughing carried out with ordinary agricultural machinery. The lithologies with
medium costs of soil recovery (class 2) included arenaceous and clayey-calcareous flysches,
methamorphic shales, and phyllites, marls, chalks, shales, marine clays, gypsums, calcarenites
and dolomites. In these cases, deep ploughing or ripping can be carried out with heavy machinery,
with costs ranging from E500 to 5000 ha
21
(http://www.tractorum.it/forum/showthread.php?t=
6258). Hard limestones, travertines, methamorphic rocks (marbles, gneiss, quartzite, migmatites),
and volcanic rocks, constitute lithologies with a high cost of soil formation (class 3), where soil
recovery can reach more than E20,000 ha
-1
(Ferrara, 2013).
The lithologies of class 3 were intersected with the soil erosion risk map, to create two inter-
pretative classes of the risk: (i) High risk of soil erosion on bedrock with low workability and high
costs of soil recovery; (ii) Very high risk of soil erosion on bedrock with low workability and high
costs of soil recovery. In these areas, the high and very high risk of total loss of soil is aggravated
by the high cost of new artificial soil formation from the bedrock, increasing the severity of com-
plete soil loss.
4. Results and discussion
The model-based approach implies uncertainties in the calculation of each factor. This disadvan-
tage is common among all approaches produced with model-based methods such as the USLE
(Van der Knijff et al., 1999,2000) and the Pan-European Soil Erosion Risk Assessment,
PESERA, (Kirkby et al., 2004) projects. A systematic calibration of each factor based on
measured data would improve the accuracy of the results. In our case, the calibration of the C
factor, based on qualitative field observation (reported no evidence of soil erosion), has decreased
the level of uncertainty of the results, although measured field observations of soil erosion rates,
for all kinds of land uses and lithologies, are lacking in Sicily. Measured data on soil erosion rates
in the Sicilian territory are only available for agricultural uses. On the other hand, one of the
improvements of our method is the inclusion of the actual soil depth in the evaluation of risk,
as it permits us to make a direct evaluation of the life time of soils. Another improvement is
the inclusion of the protection role played by human made terraces, which are particularly wide-
spread along the coast of Sicily, and on the slopes of the Etna and Peloritani mountains. Finally,
the inclusion of bedrock workability provides an economic element to the risk evaluation, without
adding further uncertainties.
The Main Map shows that the spatial distribution of risk is considerably uneven. Territories
classified at high or very high risk of soil loss are concentrated along the major mountain ranges,
apart from the Etna volcano, beside the coast of the Messina province, and on some smaller
islands. They cover 8382.9 km
2
(Table 3), about one third (32.6%) of the Sicilian region.
1230.9 km
2
(Table 3) of the land is classified at high or very high risk (4.8% of the Sicilian
region) and have soil formed on rocks with low workability. The comparison of the Main Map
with the map of the rainfall erosivity (R) factor (Figure 9) shows that the climatic factor is not
the major cause of the spatial variation. Morphology and land use factors, which have the
most detailed spatial resolution, principally drive the spatial variability of risk.
The short distance variations in the Main Map (20 m pixel size) are determined by the L and S
factors, which are produced from a 20 m DEM. These variations could not constitute a real vari-
ation in the actual soil erosion rate, as all the other factors have a coarser resolution.
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Table 3. Extent of the four classes of risk of erosion by water, subdivided into the different classes of lithologies, and the extent of depositional and flat areas,
expressed as absolute values (km
2
) and as a percentage of the whole Sicilian territory.
Main lithotypes classified
according to their hardness
and workability
Depositional
and flat areas
Low risk
(.500
years)
Moderate risk
(100-500
years)
High risk
(10-100
years)
Very high
risk (,
10 years)
km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%
1. Unconsolidated
sediments (class 1)
1.1 Colluvial and slope
deposits
17.4 0.1 34.8 0.1 143.5 0.6 161.7 0.6 4.9 0.0
1.2 Pyroclastic deposits 5.9 0.0 44.3 0.2 47.1 0.2 48.5 0.2 1.9 0.0
1.3 Alluvial and coastal
deposits
1684.8 6.6 617.7 2.4 698.7 2.7 328.0 1.3 25.4 0.1
Total (class 1) 1708.1 6.6 696.8 2.7 889.3 3.5 538.1 2.1 32.2 0.1
2. Stratified and
eterogeneous lithologies
(class 2)
2.1 Chalks and
diatomites
375.1 1.5 489.8 1.9 946.1 3.7 790.2 3.1 22.1 0.1
2.2 Organogenic
limestones, marls
and sands
1005.0 3.9 464.8 1.8 720.7 2.8 605.3 2.4 20.2 0.1
2.3 Marine clays and
silty clays
393.2 1.5 443.2 1.7 1646.4 6.4 1213.9 4.7 8.6 0.0
2.4 Gypsums and
anhydrites
26.6 0.1 76.2 0.3 437.0 1.7 383.9 1.5 1.2 0.0
2.5 Shales 55.7 0.2 78.1 0.3 425.2 1.7 614.8 2.4 2.0 0.0
2.6 Arenaceous and
clayey-
arenaceous
flysches
152.8 0.6 327.5 1.3 2075.9 8.1 2435.8 9.5 46.7 0.2
2.7 Clayey-calcareous
flysches
2.2 0.0 5.2 0.0 39.9 0.2 88.5 0.3 3.0 0.0
2.8 Metamorphic shales
and phyllites
0.7 0.0 46.6 0.2 32.0 0.1 276.0 1.1 69.5 0.3
Total (class 2) 2011.4 7.8 1931.3 7.5 6323.1 24.6 6408.5 24.9 173.2 0.7
(Continued)
Journal of Maps 13
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Table 3. Continued.
Main lithotypes classified
according to their hardness
and workability
Depositional
and flat areas
Low risk
(.500
years)
Moderate risk
(100-500
years)
High risk
(10-100
years)
Very high
risk (,
10 years)
km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%km
2
%
3. Massive and hard
lithologies (class 3)
3.1 Hard limestones and
travertines
153.9 0.6 232.5 0.9 565.5 2.2 524.3 2.0 19.4 0.1
3.2 Marbles gneiss
quartzite
migmatites
igneous rocks
0.9 0.0 6.4 0.0 23.4 0.1 353.8 1.4 79.0 0.3
3.3 Volcanic rocks 102.1 0.4 415.4 1.6 460.6 1.8 234.7 0.9 19.8 0.1
Total (class 3) 256.9 1.0 654.3 2.5 1049.5 4.1 1112.8 4.3 118.1 0.5
Total (class 1 +class 2+class 3) 3976.4 15.5 3282.5 12.8 8261.9 32.1 8059.3 31.3 323.6 1.3
14 M. Fantappie
`et al.
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The comparison of our Main Map with the PESERA project map shows that the estimation
of the areas at risk of soil erosion is much smaller in PESERA than from our methodology. This
may be because the PESERA model was calibrated for sites far from Mediterranean environ-
mental conditions. The different evaluation of the protective effect of grassland and forests deter-
mines the greatest difference between the Mode
`le d’Evaluation Spatiale de l’ALe
´a Erosion des
Sols (Regional Modelling of Soil Erosion Risk, MESALES) project (Le Bissonnais, Montier,
Jamagne, Daroussin, & King, 2002) map in comparison with our risk map, and with the risk
maps of the CORINE (Commission of European Communities, 1994) and USLE projects
maps. The difference is evident in the areas of Peloritani and Nebrodi, which are considered
not at risk on the MESALES project map, at moderate to high risk on the CORINE and
USLE projects maps, and at high and very high risk on our Main Map. The erosion risk in
the Peloritani and Nebrodi areas is accentuated in our Main Map by the presence of thin
soils, which have often developed on bedrock with low workability and high cost of soil recov-
ery. The USLE project map indicates the greatest presence of soils at high and very high risk in
the clayey landscapes of the Sicilian interior. This distribution is similar also on the MESALES
and CORINE project maps. Our Main Map confirms the presence of high erosion risk in the
interior clayey hills, but this risk is mitigated by the presence of deep soils, developed on
bedrock with high workability. The inclusion of terraced landscapes in the evaluation of the
P factor produced greater difference in the Etna region, which is evaluated at low risk on our
Main Map, while on the USLE and CORINE project maps is indicated to have moderate to
high risk.
Table 3 reports the extent of the four classes of risk of soil erosion by water, subdivided
into the different classes of lithologies, and the extent of depositional and flat areas, as shown
on the Main Map, expressed as absolute values (km
2
) and as a percentage of the whole Sicilian
territory.
5. Conclusions
The results of our study indicate that with the existing land use and management about one
third (32.6%, 8382.9 km
2
) of the Sicilian region (excluding urban areas, water bodies and rock
outcrop), are threatened with complete erosion to rooting depth within a maximum of 100
years, and about 1.3% (around 323.6 km
2
) in less than 10 years. Soils at high or very high risk
are shallow and have an accelerated rate of erosion by water. For 1230.9 km
2
(4.8% of the Sicilian
region) the high or very high risk is aggravated because the soil is formed on rocks with low
workability, where soil recovery through grinding is very costly. The soil erosion risk map of
the Sicilian region shows that these areas are concentrated on the Nebrodi and Peloritani ranges
and on the mountains close to Palermo, along the coast of the Messina province, and on some
small islands.
The map will be an helpful instrument for the regional administration to identify the
most threatened areas, which should be prioritized for the implementation of soil protection
measures. Caution should be taken in the application of the produced map, because the results
of the methodology applied are affected by many approximations. The validation of the
results obtained would be an improvement of the map, in order to assess its uncertanty and
predictivity.
Software
SAGA-GIS was used for raster calculations. Esri ArcGIS was used for map production.
Journal of Maps 15
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge Drs. Fabio Guaitoli, Gabriella Matranga, and Marco Perciabosco, of the Sicilian Region,
for support given in retrieving the thematic data. The work was made under the framework of the SOILPRO
(LIFE08ENV/IT/000428) project.
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