Dr Jay le Roux
Senior Lecturer in the Department of Geography
T: +27 51 401 3570
E: LeRouxJJ@ufs.ac.za
Research:
I am a Senior Lecturer in the UFS Department of Geography. I believe that soil erosion is an important form of land degradation in mountain environments. Soil erosion in mountainous terrain may get worse in the future due to agricultural intensification and potential climatic changes. Loss of fertile topsoil and the reduction of soil productivity is coupled with serious off-site impacts related to increased mobilisation of sediment in mountain catchments. Given the increasing threat of the sedimentation/siltation of reservoirs, it is important to identify source areas and key processes of sediment transport in these catchments.
My main interests and research focus areas include the following:
- land degradation assessment, mapping, and monitoring in a geographic information system (GIS),
- specifically, in spatial modelling of soil erosion risk, as well as
- sediment transport and hydrological connectivity
- using hydrological models such as the soil and water assessment tool
- at different temporal and spatial scales.