103

NSave Nature to Survive

4(1): 103-106, 2010QUARTERLY

LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE DRIVEN BY GREEN

MARBLE MINING IN KHERWARA TEHSIL UDAIPUR (INDIA) USING

REMOTE SENSING AND GIS

GIRIRAJ KUMAR SONGARA* AND NIDHI RAI

Department of Environmental Sciences,

Mohan Lal Sukhadia University, Udaipur, Rajasthan - 313 001

E-mail: govardhan0007@gmail.com

INTRODUCTION

Land is a fundamental factor of production and through much of the course of

human history. It has been tightly coupled with economic growth. Often improper

land use is causing various forms of environmental degradation. Mining activity

is mostly land oriented activity and can only be carried out at palaces where

minerals exit. Mining activities cause considerable damage to the land environment

because of the excavation and dumping of waste materials. The first and foremost

consequence of any mining operation is removal top soil layer and present

vegetation reduction and land degradation. The change in any form of land use

is largely related either with external forces and the pressure built up within the

system (Bisht and Kothyari, 2001). The land use system is highly dynamic which

undergoes significant changes according to the changing socioeconomic and

natural environment (Kam, 1995; Luque, 2000). The importance of mapping

land-use classes and monitoring their changes with time has been widely

recognized in the scientific community. Remote sensing and geographical

information systems (GIS) are important tools for studying land-use patterns and

their dynamics. The changing land-use patterns require a frequent updating of

the existing land-use maps of the area. Remote sensing provides multi-spectral

and multi-temporal synoptic coverage for any area of environmental interest. The

satellite data provides a permanent and authentic record of the land-use patterns

of a particular area at any given time which can be re-used for verification and re-

assessment. On the other hand, GIS provides the facility to integrate multi-

disciplinary data for dedicated interpretations in an easy and logical way (Prakash

and Gupta, 1998). This integrated approach proves to be a time-saving and cost-

effective pathway. It is necessary to initiate comprehensive study for generating or

to update information on land use pattern. Such data would not only provide

data base required for environmental management planning, but would also

enable to identify the changes taking place due to industrialization and facilitate

the suggestion of remedial measures required to maintain the ecological balance

(Legg, 1990). Earlier works have described its potential in various aspects of

mining activity, viz. land use change detection in mining area (Ghosh and Ghosh,

1991; Singh et al., 1997; Prakash and Gupta, 1998) environmental impact of

mining (SAC, 1990; Rathore and Wright, 1993; Ghosh 1989). An attempt has

been made to map the land use/ land cover information using remote sensing

satellite data for two years (1999 and 2004) and to understand rate of land use/

land cover changes in time and space as well as to assess root cause of these

changes in the Kherwara tehsil (Udaipur) of southern Rajasthan using Arc GIS 9.2

package.

Study area

The area of present study (Fig. 1) is Kherwara tehsil of Udaipur district (Rajasthan).

Kherwara tehsil is situated in 23º48’08'’- 24º’14’10'’ NL and 73º21’11'’- 73º50’15'’

EL covering geographical area of about 1108.53 km2 and located southwest of

Received : 12.10.2009

Revised : 10.12.2009

Accepted : 05.02.2010

*Corresponding author

KEY WORDSLand use/ Land cover change

Green marble mining

ABSTRACT

Anthropogenic activities like mining activity

have great influence on fragile semi arid

ecosystem. For sustainable use of natural

resources it is very important to understand

land use/ land cover and its implications on

semiarid ecosystem. Remote sensing and GIS

technique can be an excellent source for

mapping, monitoring and understanding these

changes. In present study, the IRS-1D LISS III

satellite sensor data were used to assess the

rate of change in the land use pattern of green

marble and soapstone mining area of Kherwara

tehsil of Udaipur district, Rajasthan. In the

present study, the land use maps of year 1999

and 2004 were generated though the visual

interpretation of IRS -1D LISS III images

supported by ground truths and the majority

of changes are identified in agricultural land,

mining/ industrial waste land and degraded

forest areas. The comparative study shows that

the mining and industrial waste occupies

hardly about 0.11 km2 in year 1999 and

increased to about 13.08 km2 in year 2004

due to conversion of agricultural land and

degraded forest areas into mining area. The

result of the study indicates present scenarios

and mining impact in Kherwara Tehsil of

southern Rajasthan.

104

GIRIRAJ KUMAR SONGARA AND NIDHI RAI

Udaipur district. It is bounded on the north Jharol and Girwa

tehsil of Udaipur district, on the south by Dungarpur district,

on the east by Sarada tehsil of Udaipur district and on the west

by Gujarat state. The area is characterized by semi arid with

an average annual rainfall of about 650 mm, which is mainly

received during monsoon season from July to September. The

minimum temperature in winter goes up to 2ºC and maximum

25ºC, while in summer, it goes up to minimum 20ºC and

maximum 42ºC. Relative humidity in the area is above 70%

during monsoon months but is below 20% during the months

of March-May. The average rainfall of the area is about 624.5

mm. The area is surrounded by Aravalli hill ranges from north

to south and is covered with rocky hills which are well stocked

with forests. The forests which constitute an invaluable source

of income partly sustain by the economy of the local tribal

inhabitants. The topography of the area is represented by

medium to high rocky hills, contours and plains. The area is

particularly rich in minerals resources like green marble

(serpentinite), soapstone and asbestos found in the area. Green

marble and soapstone mining are carried out through semi-

mechanized and manual methods by private company in this

region.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The overall methodology adopted for the preparation of land

use/ land cover map and change analysis is shown with the

help of a flow chart in Fig. 2. IRS 1D LISS III satellite data of

same season of year 1999 and 2004 were used to evaluate

the land use change pattern. Beside satellite data, survey of

India Toposheet on 1: 50000 scale as well as other support-

ing data like geological map and published literature wereused as collateral data. Visual interpretation and digital classi-fication are two major tools for getting land use/land coverinformation from satellite imagery. Visual interpretation usesvarious scene elements like tone, texture, shape, size and as-sociation in general to identify and delineate objects (Lillesand Keifer, 1994). Digital image classification is the process ofassigning pixels to classes. Usually each pixel is treated as anindividual unit composed of values in several spectral bands(Campbell, 1996). The automated classification method reliesmainly on brightness and spectral elements and not much onspatial content (King, 2002). These types of classifications gen-erally work well for spectrally homogeneous areas like forest.But for heterogeneous regions these methods are not wellrecommended (Yang and Lo, 2002). Land use/land coverchange information can be obtained by either image-to-imagecomparison or map-to-map comparison (Green et al., 1994).The image-to-image comparison involves subtracting two im-ages. It does not give detailed information of the how changesin particular land cover or land use are taking place. In map-to-map comparison, first images are to be classified and mapis to be generated to compare. As map-to-map comparisongives complete detail of land use land cover changes, they aregenerally preferred. In the present study, map-to-map com-parison was used for land use land cover change detection.These two images were registered with topographical maps tominimize geometric errors. Images were taken of the sameperiod so as to minimize radiometric anomalies. Images weredisplayed on the screen using ERDAS 9.2 imaging system andfor better contrast; it was enhanced by contrast stretch. Database of land use map for the year 1999 and 2004 have beencreated using Arc GIS 9.2 for land use analysis. Detailed groundtruth was completed with the help of toposheet, base mapand on-site investigation. Based on ground verification, differ-ent land use units were finalized. In present study, the landuse- land cover categorization in the study area is envisagedbased on classification scheme developed by National Re-mote Sensing Agency (NRSA 1989). The modification in thecategories at sublevel is done keeping in view the area underinvestigation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The land use statistics and changes in land use pattern de-

rived from the satellite data of year 1999 and 2004 have pre-

sented in Table 1. The land use map of year 1999 and 2004

were shown in Fig. 3 and 4 and the results of the analysis

depicted in pie diagrams (Fig. 5 and 6). The results clearly

revealed that the built-up land (settlement) has drastically in-

creased from about 8.08 km2 in year 1999 to 8.62 km2 in year

2004, due to population expansion during last five years due

to more job opportunities in mines and other related activi-

ties. Prior to the industrial development based on green marble

exploitation and allied industries, agriculture and forest based

activities were the main occupation of the working popula-

tion in this region. The agriculture land of the area has shown

a declining trend from year 1999 to 2004. As per analysis, the

area of agriculture land was 806.87 km2 (72.79 % of the total

area) in year 1999 as compared to 784.42 km2 (70.76 % of

the total area) in year 2004 registering a loss of 2.45 km2 area

over a period of five years which indicate an adverse impact

Figure 1: Location map of Kherwara Tehsil

105

of mining on land use pattern. This reduction in agricultural

land may be probably due to the use of this land for construc-

tion of haul roads, green marble mining and other mining

associated operations like dumping and processing units

along with housing for mine workers. The good forest land

has increased during year 1999 to 2004. As per analysis, the

good forest land was 70.64 km2 (6.37 % of the total area)

during year 1999 as compared to 74.61 km2 (6.73 % of the

total area) in the year 2004. The increase in good forest cover

may be attributed to various state and central government

schemes which have been implemented for the conservation

of flora and fauna and take care of forest areas by local tribal

people since they are using various plant species for their

medicinal use, edible purpose and also due to some religious

reasons. The degraded forest area has significantly declined

from about 22.24 km2 in year 1999 to 18.27 km2 in year

2004. The decrease in degraded forest land may due to cut-

ting of plants by the local tribal inhabitants for the earning of

money and for use of trees for fire wood and fuel purpose.

The land with and without scrub (waste land) has also in-

creased by about 184.57 km2 in year 1999 to 191.36 km2 in

year 2004. This may signifies lack of soil restoration and in-

creased soil erosion due to reduced agriculture practices in

Figure 3: Land use map of Kherwara Tehsil in year 1999

Figure 4: Land use map of Kherwara Tehsil in year 2004

Figure 2: Flowchart showing methodology for land use change

IRS 1D LISS III 1999

IRS 1D LISS III 2004

SOI Topo-Sheet

Base Map

Visual Analysi

Finalization of

Map

Map creation analysis through ERDAS imagine

9.2 and Arc GIS 9.2

Data Bank

Land use plot and statistics, 1999

Land use Change Analysis

Land use plot and statistics, 2004

S. N. Land use class Land use in year 1999 Land use in year 2004 Change in area (km2) during

Area (km2) Percentage to Area (km2) Percentage to year 1999 with respect to

total area total area year 2004

1. Built up land 8.08 0.73 8.62 0.78 +0.54

2. Agriculture land 806.87 72.79 784.42 70.76 -22.45

3. Good forest land 70.64 6.37 74.61 6.73 +3.97

4. Degraded forest land 22.24 2.01 18.27 1.65 -3.97

5. Land with and without scrub 184.57 16.65 191.36 17.26 +6.79

6. Water bodies 16.02 1.44 18.21 1.64 +2.19

7. Mining and industrial waste 0.11 0.01 13.04 1.18 +12.93

Table 1: Land use pattern in the year 1999 and 2004 (Total area considered for analysis= 1108.53 km2)

the study area because of outcrop of small and large mines.

Another reason which accounts for waste land development

is the hilly topography and sparse distribution of hillocks along

with the secluded residential pattern of native inhabitants who

are predominantly tribes. The area under water bodies in the

study area have been increased substantially from 16.02 km2

during year 1999 to 18.21 km2 during year 2004. The in-

crease of water bodies may attribute to construction of check

dams or ponds through government authority in tribal domi-

nated area of Kherwara tehsil and construction of water reser-

LAND USE AND LAND COVER CHANGE BY MARBLE MINING

106

8.08

806.87

70.64

22.24

184.57

16.020.11

Built up land Agriculture land

Good forest land Degraded forest land

Land with and without scrub Water bodies

Mining and industrial waste land

Figure 5: Major land use class in year 1999 (Area in sq. km)

GIRIRAJ KUMAR SONGARA AND NIDHI RAI

voirs by mine owners for their own vested interests. Beside

this, the excavation of land poor in mineral resources is left

fallow by the miners after preliminary quarrying process at

initial stages which are filled during rains. The mining and

industrial waste land was only 0.11 km2 (0.01 % of the total

area) during year 1999 is found to be 13.04 km2 (1.18 % of

the total area) during year 2004. This rapid increase in mining

area is probably due to higher production of green marble

and soapstone as well as stripping of overburden and dis-

posal of marble slurry with the out crop of large number of

green marble mines in the area under investigation.

CONCLUSION

The present analytical study will be very useful in assessment

of change in land use pattern due to mining activity. The

change in agriculture and forest land due to this activity will

further help in actually finding out the adverse effect on

vegetation of the area. This result of study will certainly be

helpful in designing the mining or land use management plan

of the tehsil for sustainable development and conservation of

Aravalli hill which is a vital step in ecological planning.

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

Giriraj K. Songara is grateful to University Grants Commission

(UGC) New Delhi for providing the financial assistance in the

form of senior research fellowship (SRF). We extend thanks to

Shri P. K. Bhatnagar, Superintendent Geologist (Remote sensing

cell) and Shri Sudheer Bhatnagar, Geologist (Remote sensing

cell), Directorate of Mines and Geology, Udaipur (Rajasthan)

for allowing to do this works. Thanks are also due to Dr. N. S.

Rathore Associate Professor and Head, Department of

Geography M. L. S. University Udaipur (Raj.) for valuable

suggestions throughout the study.

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8.62

784.42

74.61

18.27

191.36

18.21

13.04

Built up land Agriculture land

Good forest land Degraded forest land

Land with and without scrub Water bodies

Mining and industrial waste land

Figure 6: Major land use class in year 2004 (Area in sq. km)