TITLE:
Spatio-Temporal Land Cover Analysis in Makhawan Watershed (M.P.), India through Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques
AUTHORS:
Mohd Talha Anees, Akram Javed, Mohd Yousuf Khanday
KEYWORDS:
Land Use/Land Cover, Remote Sensing, GIS, Watershed
JOURNAL NAME:
Journal of Geographic Information System,
Vol.6 No.4,
August
6,
2014
ABSTRACT: The present study makes an
attempt to assess land use/land cover (LU/LC) changes at watershed level
through remote sensing and GIS techniques, in Makhawan Watershed, Madhya
Pradesh (India). The study involves multi-temporal satellite data of IRS-1D
LISS III of 2001 and IRS-P6 LISS III of 2011, which have been analyzed
visually. The study reveals that major LU/LC changes were due to the combined
effects of many parameters, viz.; decline in average rainfall, more
urbanization, sustainable agricultural activities and successful wasteland
reclamation programmes. The major LU/LC changes noticed in the watershed
decrease in uncultivated land (15.79%), wasteland whereas increases in open
scrub (13.99%) and cultivated land. Changes in LU/LC categories are also
compared with elevation which shows that most of the changes are associated
with low lying areas (lower elevation ranges) except open scrub which shows changes
in both low as well as high elevation ranges. Another notable change is the
shrinkage of reservoir during 2001-2011 period which is linked to the decline
in rainfall over the years.