LAND DEGRADATION ASSESSMENT IN EL-BUSTAN AREA - NUBARIYA REGION, EGYPT | ||||
| Journal of Soil Sciences and Agricultural Engineering | ||||
| Article 7, Volume 4, Issue 3, March 2013, Page 203-221 PDF (1.17 MB) | ||||
| Document Type: Original Article | ||||
| DOI: 10.21608/jssae.2013.51769 | ||||
 View on SCiNiTO | ||||
| Authors | ||||
| A. M. M. Al-Shamiri1; M. A. Abdel-Hamid1; K. F. Zaghloul1; R.K. Yacoub2 | ||||
| 1Soil Dept. Faculty of Agric., Cairo University, Giza, Egypt. | ||||
| 2RS and GIS Unit, Soils, Water, and Environment Research Institute., Agric. Res. Center, Giza, Egypt. | ||||
| Abstract | ||||
| The studied area (El-Bustan areas I & II) is located in Nubariya region west of the Nile delta, between km 75 and km 85 of Cairo - Alexandria desert road. It occupies an area of about 44,322 feddans. The chosen area is one of the promising lands reclamation projects in Egypt. It is irrigated from El-Bustan El-Gddidah canal using drip and sprinkle irrigation systems. Digital elevation model DEM was created depend on the contour point values map which derived from topographic map using Ordinary Kriging technique. The histograms operation of DEM value map was used to separate between the peaks of the histogram graph. There are different peaks representing the interval values, which were used together with geological map to determine and delineate the boundaries of the physiographic mapping units. The studied area was covered by selected field observations (145 points) in a grid system with spacing of approximately (1000×1000) meters. Ordinary Kriging technique in Geographic information system (GIS) environment was applied to create soil maps for each property relevant to soil degradation such as; the effective soil depth, soil salinity, and soil bulk density. Land degradation degree, extent, and overall severity were estimated, using FAO, and Global Assessment of Desertification (GLASOD) approaches for two periods (1986-2001) and (2001-2011). The results indicated that the agricultural investments during first period (1986–2001) causing of the waterlogging, salinity and compaction land degradation as a result of bad water management (i.e. applied the flooding irrigation system) in addition to the lack of information about the crops water requirements, irrigation scheduling, insufficient drainage system. These problems become less harm during the recent periods between years 2001 and 2011. This is due to applying new technology (e.g. drip and sprinkler irrigation), and risen farmers awareness by societies and services projects. Where as the compaction problem become more harm during second period in compared to first period resulted to continuous intensive agricultural applications under wet condition soil. | ||||
| Keywords | ||||
| land degradation; Geostatistical analysis; Ordinary Kriging; GLASOD; West Nubaryia | ||||
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