Читать книгу Sustainable Development Practices Using Geoinformatics - Группа авторов - Страница 34

LU/LC is an important indicator of global environmental change that indicates the influence of human activities on the physical environment [30]. Land use (LU) refers to various anthropogenic activities and practices on land, whereas land cover (LC) measures natural vegetation, water-bodies, rock/soil, and natural cover [6]. LU/LC changes have become a central component in current strategies for managing natural resources and monitoring environmental changes.

Figure 2.4 Land use/land cover map of South Karanpura Coalfield region.

In the present study, Landsat TM (January 2011) satellite image was used to prepare a LU/LC map of study area (Figure 2.4). Visual interpretation technique was used for mapping the LU/LC map and classified into eight classes (Table 2.1), namely, built-up land (urban/rural), industrial settlement, cropland/fallowland, forest, wasteland, water body within coal mine water body/river/reservoir, and coal mining area. The study revealed that most of the areas (34.65%) were dominated by forest that present in hilly areas. The area lies under wasteland was about 24.62% (85.90 km²), whereas coal mining is about 16.59 km² that is 4.35% of the total area. The area under built-up land is about 40.24 km² (10.56%) and agricultural land (cropland/fallow land) is about 72.97 km², which is 19.15% of the total area (Table 2.1). Accuracy of the prepared LU/LC map is considered reliable due to consistent field checks.