Assessing the risk of soil vulnerability to wind erosion through conditional simulation of soil water content in Sistan plain, Iran

Surface soil water content (SWC) is one of the key factors controlling wind erosion in Sistan plain, southeast of Iran. Knowledge of the spatial variability of surface SWC is then important to identify high-risk areas over the region. Sequential Gaussian simulation (SGSIM) is used to produce a series of equiprobable models of SWC spatial distribution across the study area. The simulated realizations are used to model the uncertainty attached to the surface SWC estimates through producing a probability map of not exceeding a specified critical threshold when soil becomes vulnerable to wind erosion. The results show that SGSIM is a suitable approach for modelling SWC uncertainty, generating realistic representations of the spatial distribution of SWC that honour the sample data and reproduce the sample semivariogram model. The uncertainty model obtained using SGSIM is compared with the model achieved through sequential indicator simulation (SISIM). According to accuracy plots, goodness statistics and probability interval width plots, SGSIM performs better for modelling local uncertainty than SISIM. Sequential simulation provided a probabilistic approach to assess the risk that SWC does not exceed a critical threshold that might cause soil vulnerability to wind erosion. The resulted risk map can be used in decision-making to delineate “vulnerable” areas where a treatment is needed.