Photonirvachak
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Vol. 34, No. 4, 2006
S U S T A I N A B L E D E V E L O P M E N T OF L A N D A N D W A T E R RESOURCES USING GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM AND REMOTE SENSING R.S. DWIVEDI@, K. SREENIVAS, K.V. RAMANA, RR. REDDYAND G RAVI SANKAR National Remote Sensing Agency, Department of Space, Government oflndia, Balanagar, Hyderabad - 500037, India @Corresponding author:
[email protected]
ABSTRACT
Realizing the potential of spaceborne multispectral measurements in providing spatial information on natural resources, and of Geographic Information System (GIS) in integrating such information with the socio-economic data and other collateral information to arrive at derivative information, we report here the results of a study which was taken up in a watershed in Charkhari block of Mahoba district, northern India, to generate the information on natural resources from Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1B) Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor (LISS-II) images through a systematic visual interpretation, and its subsequent integration with the collateral information in a G1S environment to develop optimal land use plan/action plan for sustainable development of its land resources. Since permanent vegetation cover in the watershed has been dwindling due to population pressure, the need for establishing more vegetation cover has been stressed.
Introduction
Over exploitation of available natural resources to meet the growing demand of the ever-increasing population has resulted in the degradation of land by various processes, namely soil erosion by water and wind, waterlogging, soil salinization and/or alkalization, shifting cultivation, compaction, etc. Received 10 August, 2004: in final tbrm 29 August, 2006
apart from dwindling per capita arable land. Out of the world total land area of 13.4 billion ha, about 2.0 billion ha is degraded to varying degrees. Soil degradation in Africa and Asia taken together itself accounts for a total of 1.24 billion ha (Dowdeswell, 1998). In India alone, out o f a 329 million ha geographical area, 150 million ha of land are affected by wind and water erosion (National Commission
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R.S. Dwivedi et al.
on Agriculture, 1976). Annually, an estimated 6000 million tonnes of soil is lost through soil erosion by water (Das, 1985). In addition, shifting cultivation, waterlogging, and salinization and/or alkalization have affected an estimated 4.36, 6 and 7.16 million ha of land, respectively (National Commission on Agriculture, 1976). Based on an estimate, per capita arable land, which was 0.3 ha during 1986, may decline to 0.15 ha by 2050 (Lal and Pierce, 1991). Exploitation, mismanagement and neglect can ruin the fragile natural resources and become threat to human survival. Archaeological evidence, in fact, have revealed that land degradation was responsible for extinction of the Harappan civilization in Western India, Mesopotamia in Western Asia and the Mayan culture in Central America (Olson, 1981). In India, the deterioration of erstwhile forest ecosystem of Cherapunji in Meghalaya State of North-eastern India is an example of the devastating effects of over exploitation of natural resources. Hitherto, every element of natural resources would be evaluated independently for its optimal utilization. It was, however, realized subsequently that different components of natural resources do not function independent of each other, instead they co-exist in nature and are interdependent.This fact has led to the development of the concept of integrated assessment of natural resources. Integrated assessment can be defined as an interdisciplinary and participatory process of combining, interpreting and communicating knowledge from diverse scientific disciplines to allow a better understanding of complex phenomena. The aim is to describe the entire cause-effect chain of a problem so that it can be evaluated from a synoptic perspective. Integrated assessment has two characteristics: (i) it should provide added value compared to single disciplinary assessment; and (ii) it should offer decision-makers useful information (Rotmans and Dowlatabadi, 1996).
Role of Remote Sensing and GIS
By virtue of synoptic view of a fairly large area at regular intervals, spaceborne multispectral data from various Earth observation satellites have been operationally used since the launch of Earth Resources Technology Satellite (ERTS-1), later renamed as Landsat-I in 1972, for generating and updating information on natural resources, namely mineral resources, soils, ground water and surface water, forests, etc. at scales ranging from regional to micro level i.e. 1:250,000 to 1:12,500 scale and monitoring the changes, if any, over a period of time. The IRS LISS-III images have been used to derive information on hydrogeomorphology of the terrain, zoning of the area into ground water prospects, and evaluation of zones by using well discharge data of hand pumps located in the area (Bahuguna et al., 2003). In another study, Landsat-TM data was used for forest canopy density stratification to assess the ecological conditions in Tehri Garhwal, Uttaranchal, northern lndia (Nandy et al., 2003). Land use/over mapping and change detection was attempted in Eastern Ghats ofTamil Nadu using IRS-1C L1SS-II| data (Jayakumar and Arockiasamy, 2003). While carrying out soil resources inventory Reddy et al. (2003) observed an intimate relationship between geomorphic unit and soils developed thereon in a basaltic terrain in Nagpur district of Maharashtra, central India using IRS-1D LISS-III data and GIS. The Geographic Information System (GIS) provides an ideal platform for integration of information on natural resources with ancillary and legacy information to arrive at decisions related to development of land and water resources. GIS has been used in a variety of applications, namely modelling of non-point source pollution (Welch et al., 1993), database design for a multiscale spatial information system (Jones et al., 1996), assessment of surface and zonal models of population (Martin, 1996), multiple criteria decision making (Malczewski, 1996), aquatic macrophile modelling (Remillard and Welch, 1993), etc.
Sustainable Development of Land and Water Resources using... Attempts have been made for the first time in India, to integrate the information on various natural resources, namely soils, ground water, surface water, land use/land cover and forest cover derived from remote sensing data, with the socio-economic and other ancillary information manually and/or in a GIS environment to generate locale-specific action plan on a watershed basis for sustainable development under a national-level project titled 'Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development (IMSD)' covering about 84.00 million ha. The project aimed at generating thematic maps on various natural resources like soils, groundwater, surface water, land use/land cover/forest cover at 1:50,000 scale from IRS-IA/-1B LISS-II data and integrating them manually or in a GIS environment to generate localespecific optimal land use plan/action plan on a watershed basis for sustainable development of land and water resources (Rao and Chandrashekhar, 1996; Rao, 2000). Besides, GIS has been used to delineate the potential zones for artificial recharge in Agniar-Ambuliar-Southvellar basin in Tamil Nadu, southern India by integrating information on lithology, physiography and soils (Jothiprakash et al., 2003). We have taken up this study to generate the information on natural resources from IRS-1B'LISS-11 data over part of Charkhari block, Mahoba district, northern India, and to prepare the optimal land use plan in a GIS environment using Arc/Info software. Study Area Covering an area of 83,500 ha, the test site is bound between geo-coordinates 25 ~ 12' to 25 ~ 37'N and 79 ~ 34' to 79 ~ 56' E and forms part of Mahoba district, Uttar Pradesh state, India. Lithologically, the area consists of alluvium of Pleistocene age, which is dotted with the exposures o f Bundelkhand Granite-gneissic complex and quartz. The alluvial plain constitutes the major physiographic unit and is interspersed with linear ridges and inselbergs. In addition, the pediment-inselberg complex is also encountered in small patches. The general elevation
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of the area ranges from 133 to 359 m above mean sea level. The streams Birma, Arjun, Chandrawal and their tributaries drain the area. The drainage pattern could be categorized as sub-parallel. Owing to tremendous pressure o f population, the natural vegetation is virtually extinct. However, individual trees of Acacia catechu, Anogeissus penduala, Boswellia serrata and Diosphyros tomentosa are observed. Amongst scrub species Carissa carandus, Zizyphus mauratiana and Lanatana camara are very common. Clay loam black soils (Kabar soils), clayey black soils (Mar soils), coarse-grained gray to grayish brown soils (parwa soils), and coarse grained reddish brown soils (raker soils) are encountered in the area. The climate of the area is semi-arid, subtropical and monsoonal with the mean annual precipitation of 885. l mm, most of which is received from south-west monsoon during June to September. The mean annual temperature has been recorded as 26.97~ Soil moisture and soil temperature regime quality as ustic and hyperthermic, respectively (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1975). The Database Since the study involves both generation o f natural resource maps as well as optimal land use plan/action plan, the False Colour Composite (FCC) images developed from green, red, and near infrared bands of IRS-1B LISS-II data acquired during March, May and September, 1994 corresponding to winter, summer and rainy cropping seasons were used. In addition, Survey o f India topographical maps at 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 scales, and published reports and maps were also used as collateral information. Methodology The study essentially involved generation of natural resources maps through a systematic visual interpretation of spaceborne multispectral data and subsequent integration of such information with the ancillary information in a GIS environment for
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generating locale-specific action plan and interventions for sustainable development of land and water resources development (Fig. 1).
the help of information on relief available in the topographical maps and their manifestation in the LISS-II image in the form of various image elements,
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Basically, three resource maps, namely hydrogeomorphological, soils and current land use/ land cover maps were prepared at 1:50,000 scale through a systematic visual interpretation of IRS1B LISS-II FCC images of the same scale by concerned resource scientists. Hydrogeomorphological Mapping
To begin with, broad geological units were taken from a published geological map which was prepared by Geological Survey of India through conventional approach. Within each geological units broad geomorphic units were identified with
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namely tone, colour, texture, pattern, association, etc. Structural features like dykes, reefs, lineaments, fractures, faults, etc. were also delineated by their linear shape and image contrast. Sample strips representing various litho-geomorphic units were selected for verification in the field. During field visit efforts were made to establish correlation between image elements and various geological and geomorphological units. In addition, observations on ground water recharge conditions and yields from representative dug wells and bore wells were also made. Based on observations made in the field, lithological and geomorphic boundaries delineated during preliminary visual interpretation were modified. Subsequently, by integrating the information on geology, geomorphology, structural
Sustainable Development of Land and Water Resources using... features recharge conditions and rainfall, ground water potential of the test site was assessed.
Soil Resources Mapping A collative approach, involving a systematic monoscopic visual interpretation of standard FCC images of IRS-1B LISS-II data at 1:50,000 scale in conjunction with the collateral information and adequate field check was followed for deriving information on soils. Initially, important natural and cultural features were drawn over Lacquered polyester single mate film (tracing film) from topographical maps. Lithological units were taken from published geological map. Such an overlay was then superposed onto FCC images. Broad physiographic units were subsequently delineated with the help of relief information available in the topographical maps at 1:50,000 scale and their manifestation in the image. Further divisions within each broad physiographic unit were tentatively made based on land use/land cover, erosion status, and presence or absence of rock outcrops. Sample strips representing variations in the lithology, physiography and associated soils were selected and their locations were marked in the topographical maps of 1:50,000 scale. Field visits were made to establish the relationship between image elements and soils occurring therein. A reconnaissance traverse of the area was made to study the accessibility to sample strips. After locating the sample strips, soil profiles were excavated and morphological characteristics were noted, and soil samples were collected for analysis in the laboratory. In addition, auger bores were also studied in each sample strips to account for within the class variations, if any. Soils were classified according to Soil Taxonomy (U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1975) based on morphological and chemical characteristics. Physiographic units were then translated in terms of soils and the boundaries of soilscape units were subsequently transferred onto a base map on 1:50,000 scale prepared from Survey of India topographical sheets of the same scale.
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In addition, derivative maps, namely land capability and land irrigability maps were generated based on information on soils and terrain conditions according to criteria laid down by All India Soil and Land Use Survey Organisation (1970). Land capability classification is an interpretative grouping o f soils mainly based on (i) the inherent soil characteristics, (ii) external land features, and (iii) environmental factors. The groupings enables one to get a picture of (i) the hazards of the soils to various factors which cause soil damage, deterioration or lowering in fertility and (ii) its potentiality for production. The interpretation of soil and land conditions for irrigation, on the other hand, is concerned primarily with predicting the behaviour o f soils under the greatly altered water regime brought about by the introduction of irrigation. For arriving at land irrigability classes, soil characteristics, namely, effective soil depth, texture of the surface soil, permeability, water holding capacity, course fragments, salinity and/alkalinity, presence o f hard pan in the sub-surface, topography and surface and sub-surface drainage are considered.
Land Use~Land Cover Mapping Like hydrogeomorphology and soils, various land use/land cover categories were delineated through a systematic visual interpretation of kharif (monsoon season) and rabi (winter season) seasons LISS-II FCC images with a view to identify both single as well as double-cropped areas apart from other land use/land cover categories. The approach essentially involves preliminary visual interpretation of FCC images with the help of information available in topographical maps and the experience of the resource scientist, intensive field check, final interpretation and transferring thematic boundaries onto a base map prepared from Survey of India topographical maps. With 36.25 m spatial resolution, LISS-II data enabled delineation of land use/land cover categories up to Level-II (Anderson et aL, 1976).
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Delineation of Watersheds The delineation o f watershed boundaries involved deriving information on drainage networkfirst order stream onwards. This was achieved by picking up, initially, some details on both natural as well as cultural features from topographical maps of 1:50,000 scale followed by modifying them with the help of information available in the LISS-II image. Since topographical maps are, usually quite old and the latest development in the terrain features especially cultural features are not portrayed, to begin with, the streams/rive/'s and other water bodies along with mean water spread, major roads, railways, settlements, canal network were drawn on a transparent overlay of topographical maps of 1:50,000 scale. The overlay was subsequently superposed onto post-monsoon season LISS-II image and water bodies were delineated and modifications in the drainage network and water spread in water bodies were made. For delineation of watershed boundaries, which is third in the order of hydrological unit (the first and second being catchment and s u b - c a t c h m e n t ) , published watershed atlas (All India Soil and Land Use Survey, 1990) was used as a reference. Further divisions within the watershed (termed as sub-watershed) were made by identifying the water-divide both in the image as well as in the topographical maps and restricting its area to around 30-50 km 2. Each subwatershed was sub-divided into mini- and microwatersheds representing the catchment of second and first order stream, respectively. The areal extent of mini- and micro-watersheds was maintained around 10-30 and 5- 10 km 2, respectively (National Remote Sensing Agency, 1995).
Preparation of Slope Map Contour information available in the topographical maps of 1:50,000 scale was used for generating the slope map. At 1:50,000 scale, the contour interval is maintained at 20 m. The vertical drop in the altitude was determined from contour intervals, and horizontal distance between contour
lines, as depicted in the topographical map, was taken as slope length, by multiplying the distance on the map with the scale factor. For instance, at 1:50,000 scale, a horizontal distance of 1.33 cm (665 m on the ground) between two contour lines represents the following slope (National Remote Sensing Agency, 1995): 20 • 100 =-3.007%
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665
Accuracy Estimation For quantitative estimates of classification accuracy of thematic maps generated from LISS-II data, sample areas representing different categories of various natural resources were selected randomly (Congalton et al., 1983). Adequate number of sample points representing various categories of different thematic maps were identified for accuracy estimation. A o n e - t o - o n e comparison of the categories mapped from all the data sets and ground truth data was made. Accuracy estimation in terms of overall accuracy, error of omission and error of commission; and Kappa coefficient (K) was subsequently made alter generating confusion matrix. The Kappa coefficient (K) was computed as follows (Bishop et al., 1975): N ~r xii _ ~ (xi+) (x + i) 1~. __
L=I
1 1 r
N 2 ~ ( x i + ) (x + i) I:l
where 'r' is the number of rows in the matrix, xii is the number of observations in row i and column i (the ith diagonal elements), xi+ and x+i are the marginal totals of row r and column i, respectively; and N is the number of observations.
Integration o f Natural Resources Maps and Collateral Information Integration of thematic maps on land and water resources consisted of following three steps:
Sustainable Development of Land and Water Resources using...
Data Preparation Since all the maps on natural resources and other ancillary information were in analog form, the first logical step before commencing the integration in a GIS environment, was to convert them into digital format. It was achieved by scanning the maps on a CONTEX FSS 8000 black and white scanner at 200 dpi. The scanned data were subsequently vectorized using raster to v e c t o r conversion software and imported into ARC/INFO environment on a Silicon Graphic workstation. The topology of thematic maps was built in ARC module. The dangle/ pseudo node errors, inherited during scanning, were subsequently rectified in ARCEDIT module and the individual polygons were appropriately labeled. The topology was rebuilt and efforts were made to rectify the remaining node/label errors, if any, following the transformation of the set of polygons of thematic maps (coverages) into real-world co-ordinates using project and transform sub-tasks.
Development of Optimal Land Use Plan~Action Plan Development of optimal land use plan/action plan essentially involves a careful study of thematic maps on land and water resources both individually as well as in combination to identify various land and water resources regions or Composite Land Development Units (CLDU) and their spatial distribution, potential and limitations for sustained agriculture and other uses; and development of an integration key. Each CLDU is studied carefully in the light of various natural resources and socioeconomic and climatic conditions and a specific land use and soil and water conservation practice is suggested. Subsequently, taking landform or physiography as a base, an integration key was developed in terms of potential/limitations of soils, present land use/land cover, ground water potential and slope, an optimal land use plan/action plan was developed. In our study, data integration was performed using ARC/INFO GIS software. Using UNION task various individual themes, namely surface ground water potential, soil resources, land
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use/land cover, slope were unionized and an unique Composite Land Development Unit (CLDU) was identified. Specific action item(s) required for the sustainable development o f these CLDUs was suggested by applying the rule-based integration key.
Map composition and Area Estimation The individual thematic maps on natural resources and the optimal land use plan/action plan map were composed for generating final output in A R C P L O T module. Maps were designed by assigning various shades to polygons and by a p p r o p r i a t e l y placing the legend and writing necessary annotations. The maps, thus composed, were converted into plottable graphic files and were plotted on a Tek-560 colour printer. The area statistics o f various classes o f a theme were generated from INFO module by selecting polygons of individual classes and summing their area using STATISTICS command. Results and Discussion
The o p t i m a l land use planning calls for identifying alternate land use and the activities or interventions for land and water resources development based on potential and limitations of available natural resources while taking into account socio-economic conditions. For the sake of brevity, the details of thematic maps and optimal land use plan/action plan map for a representative subwatershed are presented hereunder:
Watershed Map Within the watershed sub-watersheds, miniwatersheds and micro-watersheds were delineated with the help of drainage map derived from Survey o f India t o p o g r a p h i c a l m a p s and from the information available in the satellite data. The miniwatershed 2C2A2C1 was further divided into two micro-watersheds, namely 2C2A2C 1a and 2C2A2C I b. Similarly, the mini-watershed 2C2A2C2 was further
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divided into two micro-watersheds viz. 2C2A2C2a and 2C2A2C2b. A sample map showing miniwatersheds and further divisions thereof into microwatershed is appended as Fig. 2.
along the faults/fractures have been made. Being an alluvial terrain, the major part of the area where soil erosion by water is virtually minimal (nil to slight), represents the first category. The moderately to severely eroded counterpart of the alluvial plain wherefrom run off is more and net recharge is relatively less, represents the second category (100 - 300 lpm). And the area along the Sihu nala (a drain) in the north of Sabua village (an administrative unit) with better recharge conditions but shallow depth range represent the third category (Fig. 3). Lastly, the southern tip of'the area which forms part of the hard rock ;area - Granite - gneissic complex and where ground water is confined mainly along the fractures and faults, represents the last category. The areal of various categories is given in Table 1. Overall aceuracy of mapping has been of the order of 91.5 %. Table 1: Spatial extent of various categories of ground water potential Ground water potential
Area (ha)
100 - 300 ~pm with better recharge
1691
100 - 300 tpm
1217
100 - 300 ipm with better recharge & lesser depth
273
50 - 100 1p.m along faults and fractures
14
Nil. But acts as barrier
7
Soil Map Fig. 2. Watershed map
Hydrogeomorphological Map The hydrogeomorphogical map was used as a base for generating ground water potential map (Fig. 3). Four categories, namely (i) 100 to 300 litres per minute (lpm) with better recharge (ii) 100 to 300 lpm (iii) 100 to 300 lpm with better recharge and shallow depth range, and (iv) 50 to 100 lpm confined
Soils of the area have been classified up to series level and mapped as an association of soil series (USDA, 1975). Covering a geographical area o f 1690.48 ha, the association of Kaithi-Asthaun series represents very deep, fine in texture, well drained soils which have developed over nearly level to very gently sloping alluvial plain. The association is a member of Fine, montmorillonitic (calcareous), hyperthermic. Typic Haplusterts and Fine, montmorillonitic (calcareous), hyperthermic,
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Fig. 3. Hydrogeomorphological map Vertic Ustochrepts. The Ramnagar-Riwai-Baphretha association covers 17.87 % o f the total area (Table 2). A m e m b e r o f F i n e - l o a m y mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic. Typic Ustochrepts, Fineloamy, mixed, hyperthermic Typic Ustocherpts, and/ Fine-loamy, mixed (Calcareous), hyperthermic, Vertic Ustochrepts, these soils are moderately deep to very deep, medium to fine in texture, well drained and have developed over alluvial plain.
The third association comprises of Baphretha and Ramnagar soil series and covers 20.14 % of the total area of the test site. These soils are deep, fine loamy in texture, moderately well drained, and have developed over nearly level to very gently sloping alluvial plain. Soils of Akthquhan-Pawa-Ramnagar association which covers 8.51% of the area, are very deep, coarse loamy, well drained and have developed over gently to moderately sloping
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Table 2: Spatial extent of various categories of soils Soil series / association
Soil families / association
Karhara Kalan
Loamy-skeletal, mixed, hyperthermic Lithic Ustorthents
Kaithi
Fine, montmorillonitic (calcareous), hyperthermic Typic Haplusterts
Asthaun
Fine, montmorillonitic (calcareous), hyperthermic Vertic Ustochrepts
Baphretha
Fine-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic Vertic Ustochrepts
Ramnagar
Fine-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic Typic Ustochrepts
Ramnagar
Fine-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic Typic Ustochrepts
Riwai
Fine-loamy, mixed, hyperthermic Typic Ustochrepts
Baphretha
Fine-loamy mixed (calcareous). hyperthermic Vertic Ustochrepts
Akthquhan
Coarse-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic Typic Ustochrepts
Pawa
Coarse-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic Udic Ustochrepts
Ramnagar
Fine-loamy. mixed (calcareous). hyperthermic Typic Ustochrepts
Mostly rock outcrops
undulating alluvial plain. The association comprises of coarse-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic, Typic Ustochrepts; C o a r s e - l o a m y , mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic, Udic Ustochrepts, and Fine-loamy, mixed (calcareous), hyperthermic, Typic Ustochrepts. Lastly, the Karhara Kalan series comprises of soils which are very shallow, gravelly, medium in texture and have developed over quartz reef. This unit occupies 0.66% of the total area of the test site. A sample soil resources map around Sabua village - north-west of Charkhari town is appended as Fig. 4.
Land capability class
Land irrigability class
Area (ha)
VII es
6
14
2s
2sd
1690
II es
2sd
645
III se
3st
572
I es
3t
273
VIII s
6
7
L a n d Use~Land Cover M a p
As evident from the land use/land cover map (Fig. 5), the major portion of the area is under rabi crop while kharifcrop accounts for a very small area. Furthermore, it is interesting to note that in a fairly large area (25.94 % of the total area), both kharif as well as rabi crops are raised. Wastelands occupy a very small area. The spatial extent of other land use/ land cover categories is given in Table 3.
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Fig. 4. Soil map T a b l e 3: Spatial extent of various
Slope Map
land use/land cover categories Land use and land cover
Single-cropped (Kharif) Single-cropped (Rabi) Double-cropped Fallow Plantations Land with scrub Land without scrub Rabi crop in lake Lake/tank/reservoir Rocky
Area (ha)
100 2058 830 71 18 22 21 24 27 i8
As evident from slope map (Fig. 6), the slope o f the terrain has been categorized into three classes, namely, nearly level (1 to 3 %), moderately sloping (5 to 10 %), and strongly sloping (10 to 15 %). Of the total area of 3201 ha, nearly level, moderately, and strongly sloping categories occupy 99.3 % of the sub-watershed area while moderately and strongly sloping categories occupy 0.3 % and 0.4 % of it respectively.
Optimal Land Use Plan~Action Plan As mentioned earlier, information on soils, current land use/land cover, ground water.potential
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Fig. 5. Land use/land cover map and surface water were integrated in a GIS domain, taking landform as a reference for generating optimal land/action plan. The key used in the integration of various thematic maps is appended as Table 4. It is evident from the Table that in alluvial plains, for instance, two sub-catgories, namely unstripped and stripped plain have been made. Within unstripped category, two broad type of soils viz. deep black soil (Kaithi series) and moderately deep black soils (Asthaun) series occur. Whereas the former having developed over nearly to very gently sloping plain (0-1% slope) is virtually free from erosion hazards
(nil to slightly eroded), the latter with slightly higher slope gradient is subject to slight erosion. Since there is a hardly any scope for further improving cropping intensity in deep black soils, in order to have additional vegetation cover and fuel wood, and timber, tree plantation along the field bunds has been advocated. In moderately deep black soils (Asthaun series) with 1-3% slope, three land use/land covers categories: single-cropped area, fallow lands and land with or without scrub are encountered. In single
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recommended in the land which is not supporting crops and is under scrubs. The optimal land use plan/action plan map for a sub watershed (part of the area) is appended as Fig. 7. It is evident from the Figure that most of the area is used for agriculture - both kharif and rabi crops. In order to make the agriculture economically viable and to increase the agriculture production for meeting the food r e q u i r e m e n t o f growing population, a g r o - h o r t i c u l t u r e and intensive agriculture especially in areas with good ground water potential need to be taken up in the nearly level to gently sloping alluvial plain. Since there is no assured irrigation for rabi crop, efforts, therefore, need to be made to conserve soil moisture during rainy season by constructing broad beds and furrows especially in black soils for recharging ground water and to store moisture in the root zone which may help establishing good crop cover.
Fig. 6. Slope map cropped area and fallow lands, agro-horticulture has been suggested for enhancing the income of the farmers and for providing protection to soils from water erosion. Kind of horticultural crops to be raised depends, to a large extent, on socio-economic condition of the farmer. Since most of the farmers are poor and could not afford horticultural crops that have long gestation periods and input intensive, dryland plantation crops like Carissa carandus and Zizyphus zuzuba and Psiduim species (gauva) have been recommended. In the land with or without scrub, for providing forage to farm animals and additional income to farmers apart from providing vegetation cover, horti-pasture has been
In keeping with the underlying principle of sustainable development for maintaining harmony with the environment, in addition to a considerably large area (2547 ha) which is already under different categories of forest (Table 5) another 775 ha of land have been identified for providing permanent green cover through development of fodder and fuel wood plantations and 242 ha under gully plugging and levelling and fodder and fuel wood plantation. Furthermore, within existing forest cover, forest gap plantation has been advocated in order to improve canopy cover. Conclusion The study has vividly demonstrated the potentials o f spaceborne multispectral data in deriving information on natural resources, in integrating it with the terrain conditions and other ancillary and legacy information in a GIS environ to arrive at locale-specific optimal land use plan/action plan for sustainable development of land and water resources. The development of intelligent GIS
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al.
Fig. 7. Optimal land use plan/action plan coupled with the high spatial resolution panchromatic and multispectral data from IKONOSII, Quick Bird-II, Resourcesat-1, Cartosat-1 and planned earth observation missions, namely Cartosat-2, SPOT-6, etc. may enable generating farmlevel agricultural land use plan and interventions necessary for sustainable development of land resources, and may facilitate monitoring the impact of the implementation of suggested agricultural land use plan and soil and water conservation programme.
Acknowledgements The authors are indebted to R. R. Navalgund, Director and D.P. Rao, Former Director, National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Hyderabad for providing necessary facilities during the course of investigation. Thanks are due to P. S. Roy, Deputy Director (Remote Sensing and GIS) NRSA for evincing keen interest in the study. Secretarial support provided by Vijaya Chandra and B. Padmavathi is also gratefully acknowledged.
Alluvial plains
4.
- stripped
- unstripped
Pediments
3.
Single crop
L W W S & stogie crop
Ramnagar
Rtwal
100-300 LPM along the falults
1-3
3-5
Nil to shght
Shght to moderate
Slight to moderate
Slight
1-3
LWWS 3-5
Shght
Nd to slight
Sltght to moderate
Slight to moderate
Shght to moderate
Moderate to severe
I-3
Double crop
to
,,cry severe
Severe
Severe to very severe
Erosion Hazards
Single crop & Fallow land
Baphretha
Asthaun
1-3
3-5
Single crop Double crop
3-5
Double crop
Kaithi
3-5
LWWS
3-8
10-35
Ramnagar
Rock outcrops
LWWS
LWWS
8-35
Slope
Forests
rock
iForests
ILand use/' Cover
Jardmganj
outcrops
Mostl~
Karhara kalan
Soil series
Is
lllse
lls
Is
Is
ds
lllse
lllse
lllse
IVse
VIII
Vllse
Vlles
Class
Capability'
Land
Integration key for generation of action plan
50-100 LPM &
100-300 LPM
50-150 LPM
Limtted prospects along narrow valleys
Denudational hilts/msel bergs
Linear ridges
Ground w a t e r Potential
Land form
2.
No.
SI.
Table 4:
Hortipasture
Levelling and bondmg followed by agroborticulture
Levelling and bundmg followed by tree plantation along bunds
Hortipasture
Agro-horttculture
Tree plantation along bunds
Agro-horticulture
Tree plantation along the bunds
Silvi pasture
Forest gap plantatton in open forests
No action
No action
Fodder and fuelwood planations
Forest protectmn and gap plantation m open forest
Recommendations
L/I
g
=
e.-
g
O
