Map of Soil Erosion Risk for the Mancos Shale Formation
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) US Department of Agriculture; National Agricultural Library
Version: View help for Version V1
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Project Citation:
US Department of Agriculture, and National Agricultural Library. Map of Soil Erosion Risk for the Mancos Shale Formation. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2026-06-27. https://doi.org/10.3886/E250371V1
Project Description
Project Title:
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Map of Soil Erosion Risk for the Mancos Shale Formation
Summary:
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This product used the rangeland hydrology and erosion model (RHEM) to map erosion risks affecting water quality of the Colorado River that originate on the Mancos Shale formation in Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. The Mancos Shale is a significant source of salinity, and a portion of that salt load derives from erosion of rangeland soils. Inputs to RHEM included digital elevation data, statistically modeled maps of soil properties, the LANDFIRE vegetation map, Landsat and MODIS satellite imagery, field data from the Rangeland National Resource Inventory program of the U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, and rainfall data from Atlas 14 of the U.S. National Atmospheric and Oceanographic Administration. RHEM predicted sediment yield at a 30 m spatial resolution for a storm with a 60-minute duration whose intensity corresponded to a 25-year return frequency. Results corresponded reasonably with prior field experiments that used the Walnut Gulch Rainfall Simulator (WGRS), with a Spearman’s rank-order correlation of 0.76 for cumulative sediment yield after 20 minutes of rainfall. This high-resolution map of erosion risk developed from RHEM can help to prioritize specific areas for more intensive study and action.
This dataset represents areas of the Mancos Shale geological formation that do not have high levels of urban or agricultural development and which have slopes less than 35%.
Resources in this dataset:
Resource Title: Predicted Soil Erosion on the Mancos Shale Associated with a 60-minute 25-year storm. File Name: rhem25y60m.zipResource Description: Data is a large GeoTIFF raster dataset indicating predicted amounts of soil erosion (metric tons per hectare) for a 60-minute 25-year storm at a 30 meter spatial resolution. Predictions are based on the Rangeland Hydrology Erosion Model (RHEM) with a variety of geospatial inputs. Areas of high urban or agricultural development or slopes greater than 35% are not included. RHEM is a hillslope-scale model, so sediment transport and deposition across a watershed are not considered. Data are best used for relative ranking of sites rather than direct quantitative use.
Resource Title: Predicted Soil Erosion on the Mancos Shale Associated with a 60-minute 25-year storm.
File Name: rhem25y60m.zip
Resource Description: Data is a large GeoTIFF raster dataset indicating predicted amounts of soil erosion (metric tons per hectare) for a 60-minute 25-year storm at a 30 meter spatial resolution. Predictions are based on the Rangeland Hydrology Erosion Model (RHEM) with a variety of geospatial inputs. Areas of high urban or agricultural development or slopes greater than 35% are not included. RHEM is a hillslope-scale model, so sediment transport and deposition across a watershed are not considered. Data are best used for relative ranking of sites rather than direct quantitative use.
This dataset represents areas of the Mancos Shale geological formation that do not have high levels of urban or agricultural development and which have slopes less than 35%.
Resources in this dataset:
Resource Title: Predicted Soil Erosion on the Mancos Shale Associated with a 60-minute 25-year storm. File Name: rhem25y60m.zipResource Description: Data is a large GeoTIFF raster dataset indicating predicted amounts of soil erosion (metric tons per hectare) for a 60-minute 25-year storm at a 30 meter spatial resolution. Predictions are based on the Rangeland Hydrology Erosion Model (RHEM) with a variety of geospatial inputs. Areas of high urban or agricultural development or slopes greater than 35% are not included. RHEM is a hillslope-scale model, so sediment transport and deposition across a watershed are not considered. Data are best used for relative ranking of sites rather than direct quantitative use.
Resource Title: Predicted Soil Erosion on the Mancos Shale Associated with a 60-minute 25-year storm.
File Name: rhem25y60m.zip
Resource Description: Data is a large GeoTIFF raster dataset indicating predicted amounts of soil erosion (metric tons per hectare) for a 60-minute 25-year storm at a 30 meter spatial resolution. Predictions are based on the Rangeland Hydrology Erosion Model (RHEM) with a variety of geospatial inputs. Areas of high urban or agricultural development or slopes greater than 35% are not included. RHEM is a hillslope-scale model, so sediment transport and deposition across a watershed are not considered. Data are best used for relative ranking of sites rather than direct quantitative use.
Original Distribution URL:
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https://agdatacommons.nal.usda.gov/articles/dataset/Map_of_Soil_Erosion_Risk_for_the_Mancos_Shale_Formation/24664872
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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Colorado River;
erosion;
RHEM;
landsat;
water quality
Geographic Coverage:
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United States
Time Period(s):
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7/1/2018 – 7/1/2018
Data Type(s):
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geographic information system (GIS) data
Collection Notes:
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DOI: 10.15482/USDA.ADC/1518465
Citation: McGwire, Kenneth, C (2020). Map of Soil Erosion Risk for the Mancos Shale Formation. Ag Data Commons. https://doi.org/10.15482/USDA.ADC/1518465 (Downloaded 2026-06-26)
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