Pattern and Intensity of Erosion in the Environmentally Stressed Khulgad Watershed, Kumaun Himalaya

In the Khulgad watershed in the Kosi Valley in the Kumaun Himalaya, the average rate of erosion is 0.07 mm/year or 186 t/km²/year. Tectonic and anthropogenic activities have together appreciably accelerated the rate of erosion. A study over the period of three years (1991-1993) demonstrated that the rate of erosion is 0.19 mm/year (500 tlkm2/year) in the tectonically disturbed land, 0.12 mm/year (315 t/km²/year) in the barren land, and 0.10 mm/year (278 t/km²/year) in the agricultural land, while in the forest lands it varies between 0.02 mm/year (41 t/km²/year) under an oak forest and 0.04 mm/year (100 t/km²/year) under a pine forest. Compared to the intensity of erosion in the least disturbed oak forest, the erosion rate is about 10 times higher in the tectonically disturbed land, and 5 to 8 times higher in the anthropogenically stressed agricultural and barren lands.