Land capability classification for integrated watershed development by applying remote sensing and GIS techniques

摘要

Land is the most valuable natural resource, which needs to be harnessed according to its potential. Due to over exploitation and mismanagement of natural resources coupled with socio-economic factors, the problem of land degradation is on the rise. Land resource is one of the limited resources. The use of land is not only determined by the user but also by the land capability. The land capability is governed by the different land attributes such as the types of soil, its depth and texture, underlying geology, topography, hydrology, etc. The study region selected for the present study is Dudhganga basin of southern Maharashtra which is facing severe land degradation problems. Here, an attempt has been made to apply RS and GIS for integrated watershed development of the study region. The parameters like slope, soil depth, texture and land use/ land cover are assessed by applying remote sensing and GIS techniques for the land capability classification of Dudhganga basin. Slope analysis has been carried out by using SRTM data. To assess Land use/ land cover conditions, Landsat ETM image of 2006 year is assessed by supervised classification techniques. Finally, Intersect overlay technique of GIS is used to integrate spatial information and to create Land capability classification of the Dudhganga basin. The analysis reveals that Class II, III, IV and VI are present in the study region. Out of that Class II which is much suitable for agriculture accounts 16.30 per cent. Class IV is a dominating class as far the areal extent is concerned with 34.05 per cent. The Class VI is most susceptible to land degradation which accounts for 28.61 per cent.