ISSN: 2320-5407 Int. J. Adv. Res.

5(8), 638-649

Fig-2.1:- Base Map of Study Area

Results and discussion:-
Land use/Land cover:-
The Land use/ Land cover study area has been attempted in order to identify and map the various types of land use/
land cover classes in the area by visual interpretation. The Land use classification of the specified area using
remotely sensed data. Land use is obviously constrained by environmental factors such as soil characteristics,
climate, topography and vegetation. But, it also reflects the land as a key and finite resource for most human
activities including agriculture, industry, forestry, energy, production, settlement, recreation and water catchments
and storage. The Land use of the area has been classified based on NRSC LEVEL II land use land cover
classification as shown (Table 3.1)

Sl. Description-1 Description-2 Description-3

Urban Residential, Mixed built up, Public / Semi Public,
Communication, Public utilities / facility, Commercial,
1 Built-up Transportation, Reclaimed land, Vegetated Area,
Recreational, Industrial, Industrial / Mine dump, Ash /
Cooling pond
Rural Rural
Mining Mine / Quarry, Abandoned Mine Pit, Land fill area
Crop land Kharif, Rabi, Zaid, Two cropped, More than two cropped
Plantation Plantation - Agricultural, Horticultural, Agro Horticultural
2 Agriculture Fallow Current and Long Fallow
Current Shifting Current Shifting cultivation
cultivation
Evergreen / Semi Dense /Closed and Open category of Evergreen / Semi
evergreen evergreen

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3 Forest Deciduous Dense / Closed and Open category of Deciduous and Tree
Clad Area
Forest Plantation Forest Plantation
Scrub Forest Scrub Forest, Forest Blank, Current & Abandoned Shifting
Cultivation
Swamp / Mangroves Dense / Closed & Open Mangrove
4 Grass/ Grazing Grass/ Grazing Grassland: Alpine / Sub-Alpine, Temperate / Sub Tropical,
Tropical / Desertic
5 Barren Salt Affected Land Slight, Moderate & Strong Salt Affected Land
/uncultivable Gullied / Ravinous Land Gullied, Shallow ravine & Deep ravine area
/Wastelands Scrub land Dense / Closed and Open category of scrub land
Sandy area Desertic, Coastal, Riverine sandy area
Barren rocky Barren rocky
Rann Rann
Inland Wetland Inland Natural and Inland Manmade wetland
6 Wetlands / Coastal Wetland Coastal Natural and Coastal Manmade wetland
Water Bodies River / Stream / canals Perennial & Dry River/stream and line & unlined canal/drain
Water bodies Perennial, Dry, Kharif, Rabi &Zaid extent of lake/pond and
reservoir and tanks
7 Snow and Seasonal and Permanent snow
Glacier
Table-3.1:- NRSC Land Use and Land Cover Classes

Urban Settlement:-
Urban areas are non-linear built up areas covered by impervious structures adjacent to or connected by streets. This
cover is related to canters of population. This class usually occurs in combination with, vegetated areas that are
connected to buildings that show a regular pattern, such as vegetated areas, gardens etc. and industrial and/or other
areas. (FAO, 2005).It includes residential areas, mixed built-up, recreational places, public / semi-public utilities,
communications, public utilizes/facility, commercial areas, reclaimed areas, vegetated areas, transportation,
industrial areas and their dumps, and ash/cooling ponds.

Rural Settlement:-
These are the lands used for human settlement of size comparatively less than the urbansettlements of which the
majority of population is involved in the primary activity of agriculture.These are the built-up areas, smaller in size,
mainly associated with agriculture and allied sectorsand non-commercial activities. They can be seen in clusters
non- contiguous or scattered.

Cropland:-
These are the areas with standing crop as on the date of Satellite overpass. Cropped areas appear in bright red to red
in color with varying shape and size in a contiguous to non-contiguous pattern. They are widely distributed
indifferent terrains; prominently appear in the irrigated are as irrespective of the source of irrigation. It includes
kharif, rabi and zaid crop lands along with areas under double or triple crops.

Plantations:-
These are the areas under agricultural tree crops planted adopting agricultural management techniques. Depending
on the location, they are exhibit a dispersed or contiguous pattern. Use of multi-season data will enable their
separation in a better way. It includes agricultural plantation (like tea, coffee, rubber etc.) horticultural plantation
(like coconut, arecanut, citrus fruits, orchards, fruits, ornamental shrubs and trees, vegetable gardens etc) and agro-
horticultural plantation.

Fallow:-
An agricultural system with an alternation between a cropping period of severalyears and a fallow
period.(Ruthenberg, 1980). In another terms these are the lands, which aretaken up for cultivation but are
temporarily allowed to rest, un-cropped for one or more season,but not less than one year.

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River /lakes:-
Rivers/streams are natural course of water flowing on the landsurface along a definite channel/slope regularly or
intermittently towards a sea in most cases orin to a lake or an inland basin in desert areas or a marsh or another river.

Water Bodies:-
This category comprises areas with surface water in the form of ponds,lakes, tanks and reservoirs.

Scrub Land:-
Scrub Land these areas possess shallow and skeletal soils, at times degraded, extremes of slopes, severely eroded
and lands subjected to excessive aridity with scrubs dominating the landscape. They have a tendency for intermixing
with cropped areas. They appear in light yellow to brown to greenish blue depending on the surface moisture cover
and vary in size from small to large having either contiguous or dispersed pattern. The vegetal cover on scrub lands
may be dense or sparse.

Barren Rocky:-
Barren/Rocky/Stony Waste These are rock exposures of varying lithology often barren and devoid of soil and
vegetation cover. They occur amidst hill-forests as openings or as isolated exposures on plateau and plains. Such
lands can be easily discriminated from other categories of wastelands because of their characteristic spectral
response. They appear in greenish blue to yellow to brownish in color depending on the rock type. They vary in size
with irregular to discontinuous shape with a linear to contiguous or dispersed pattern. They are located in steep
isolated hillocks/hill slopes, crests, plateau and eroded plains associated with barren and exposed rocky/stony
wastes, lateritic out-crops, mining and quarrying sites. These areas appear in light gray to black tone due to hill
shadow on one side and light red on the other side due to vegetation, the tonal variation is subject to degree of soil
erosion.

Forest:-
The term forest is used to refer to land with a tree canopy cover of more than 10 percent and area of more than 0.5
ha. Forests are determined both by the presence of trees and the absence of other predominant land uses. The trees
should be able to reach a minimum height of 5 m (MOEF, 2011). It consists of:

Evergreen/Semi‐Evergreen:-
This term as such describes the phenology of perennial plants that are never entirely without green foliage
(Ford‐Robertson, 1971). This category comprises of tall trees, which are predominantly remain green throughout the
year. It includes both coniferous and tropical broadleaved evergreen species. Semi‐ evergreen is a forest type that
includes a combination of evergreen and deciduous species with the former dominating the canopy cover.

Deciduous:-
This applies to the phenology of perennial plants that are leafless for a certain period of the year (Ford‐Robertson,
1971). The leaf shedding usually takes place simultaneously in connection with the unfavourable season (UNESCO,
1973). These are the forest types that are predominantly composed of species, which shed their leaves once a year,
especially during summer. It also includes tree clad area with tree cover lying outside the notified forest boundary
areas that are herbaceous with a woody appearance (e.g. bamboos, palms, tree ferns etc.).

Degraded Forest:-
Degraded Forest land Lands within Notified Forest boundaries, with various types of forest cover, in which
vegetative cover is less than 20 % are classified as degraded / underutilised. These lands are generally confined to
the fringe areas. Such lands appear in dark gray to light red tone during the maximum green period. The tonal
variations are subject to change with the foliage cover and the season of data acquisition.

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