Abd-Alla GAD
National Authority of Remote Sensing and Space Sciences
Egypt
Title: Developing a digital land resources database of Egyptian Nile Valley, based on integrated GIS and satellite data
Biography
Biography: Abd-Alla GAD
Abstract
The National development plans aim to sustain and raise productivity of arable lands. Development of a digital land resources data base is important for realizing best land use. The current article focuses on the Nile Valley, which gifts the Egypt land, among the hyper arid desert area. Information and maps, including analogue data, were digitized, geo-referenced and imported to a GIS model. Networks of irrigation, drainage, roads, railways and utilities, were included. SRTM, recent ETM+ and SPOT satellite images were utilized to validate thematic maps and develop DEM. Intensive field investigation, equipped by a navigation GPS, was performed, to collect ground control points and representative soil samples. It was found that 2.63% of the mapped soils is exhibited by soil order “Arididsols”, dominated by “Petrogypsids” great group at Northwestern desert fringes of Nile Valley. The “Entisols” soil order dominates the studied soils (97.37%), where”Torrifluvents” great group is pronounced (52.3%). The elevation ranges from 0 to 40 meters ASL. It was found that 15.5% of Nile Valley are classified as highly capable, corresponding with “Vertic Torrifluvents” soils sub great group. The low capable soils, corresponding to sub-great groups “Typic Petrogypsids”, “Typic Haplosalids” and “Typic Petrogypsids”, represent 1.7 of the Nile Valley. The most striking findings noticed were the urban encroachment on the account of most fertile soils. It could be concluding that achieving such detailed digital land resources database is a great step towards the implementation of sustainable development and management programs.