Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

damen, m. c. j.

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Multivolume work

Persistent identifier:: 856342815

Title:: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

Sub title:: proceedings of the 7th international Symposium, Enschede, 25 - 29 August 1986

Year of publication:: 1986

Place of publication:: Rotterdam; Boston

Publisher of the original:: A. A. Balkema

Identifier (digital):: 856342815

Language:: English

Additional Notes:: Volume 1-3 erschienen von 1986-1988

Editor:: Damen, M. C. J.

Document type:: Multivolume work

Volume

Persistent identifier:: 856641294

Title:: Remote sensing for resources development and environmental management

Sub title:: proceedings of the 7th international Symposium, Enschede, 25 - 29 August 1986

Scope:: IX Seiten, Seiten 551-956

Year of publication:: 1986

Place of publication:: Rotterdam; Boston

Publisher of the original:: A,. A. Balkema

Identifier (digital):: 856641294

Illustration:: Illustrationen, Diagramme

Signature of the source:: ZS 312(26,7,2)

Language:: English

Usage licence:: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Editor:: Damen, M. C. J.

Editor:: International Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing, Commission of Photographic and Remote Sensing Data

Publisher of the digital copy:: Technische Informationsbibliothek Hannover

Place of publication of the digital copy:: Hannover

Year of publication of the original:: 2016

Document type:: Volume

Collection:: Earth sciences

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Title:: 5 Non-renewable resources: Geology, geomorphology and engineering projects. Chairman: J. V. Taranik, Liaison: B. N. Koopmans

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Document type:: Multivolume work

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Chapter

Title:: Assessment of desertification in the lower Nile Valley (Egypt) by an interpretation of Landsat MSS colour composites and aerial photographs. A. Gad & L. Daels

Document type:: Multivolume work

Structure type:: Chapter

Symposium on Remote Sensing for Resources Development and Environmental Management / Enschede / August 1986 599 Assessment of desertification in the lower Nile Valley (Egypt) by an interpretation of Landsat MSS colour composites and aerial photographs A.Gad & L.Daels Laboratory for Regional Geography, State University of Ghent, Belgium ABSTRACT : The study area is situated in the lower part of the Nile Valley (Egypt) from the Giza- to the El-Menia province. The most important geomorphogenetic factors forming a threaten for the cultivated area are : wind action, especially in the Western Desert and the combined fluvial and wind action in the eastern desert. A visual interpretation of two satellite MSS colour composites was used to assess the desert en croachment. The interpretation has been verified by field work. Interpretation of Landsat MSS-images revealed the eolian deposits as bright coloured bands interupted by dark coloured patches of coarser erosional deposits coming from the mountains and hills in western desert. Aerial photo-interpretation had to be used to reveal the different orders of the hydrographic network and connection of drainage patterns and also the identification of the different types of erosional and depositional landforms. The combined interpretation of Landsat MSS images and aerial photographs made it .possible to identify the landforms which are considered to be good indicators of desertification and so it was possible to recognize the endangered areas along the Nile Valley. 1 INTRODUCTION Desertificatiop, the extension of desert like con ditions, is a severe problem in the arid and semiv arid regions. It happens, by different processes:. (e.g. wind erosion, water erosion, vegetation degra-r dation, salinization, compaction and crust formation.) The United Nations environment program (UNEP) stated that 20. million square kilometers hays recently reyerted to desert or desert like conditions-. Desertification in Egypt is not a new phenomenon. Closer to the Nile Valley, farmers have been fighting a lost battle with the sand for centuries. The dunes submerge the roads to the oases and encroach upon fields and complete villages. The Eastern side of the valley is also not free from damage. The dense old drainage pattern in the Eastern desert accumulate a great amount of altera- ted material. Once a thunderstorm happens, it provides an enourmous amount of debris material down the slopes threatening the cultivated land and the villages. The problem of desert encroachement is best under stood by locating the associated features, studying the rates and direction of their movements. The purpose of the current investigation is to make a jriaximal use of remote sensing data to assess deser - tffi'cation in the study area. It was possible to minimrae the need of ground information by analysing stereo coverages of some sample areas on aerial photoninterpretation were extrapolated upon enlarged landsat images. 2 LOCALIZATION AND ENVIRONMENT OF THE STUDY AREA The investigated area is situated in the Northern part of the Nile Valley (Egypt). It lies approxi^ mately between latitudes 27°52* and 30°6' N and longitudes 29°46' and 31°41' E.(Fig.l) It includes, the. goyernorates of Gj-za, Beni-S.ue.f and El-Menia and the surrounding desert fringes. The three governorates represent one sixth of the cultivated area in Egypt. The Western desert is a northern dipping plain of sedimentary rocks , composed mainly of sand stone in the South and limestone in the North (Said 1962). It occupies 681,000 Km^, or more than two thirds of F’'g. 1 - Localisation of the in vestigated arda the area of Egypt. This flat region is interrupted by low- situated oases, and by granitic mountains in the South-West intersection between Egypt, Libya and the Soudan. Nume rous sand dunes and sand sheet belts are crossing the rocky plateau of the desert. The Eastern desert borders the Nile Valley eastward. It extends from the Nile Valley to the Suez Canal and the Red Sea, and has an area of about 223,000 KmA The Eastern de sert differs markedly from the western one. It is intensely dissected by valleys and ra vines. Murray(1951)and Butzer (1959)stated that although de sert climatic conditions are prevailling over Egypt, the mountainous areas of the Eastern desert have received a higher amount of precipitations. The flood plain is built up by alluvial deposits, formed from the sedimentation of mud which was carried by the annual floods during the most recent geologi cal period. The mud is the product of igneous rocks forming the Ethiopian plateau. The Western desert fringes of the study area are dominated by sand sheets and sand dune belts and varnished pebbles. El-Baz (1978) found, by using the Apollo-Soyuz photographs, that some longtudinal dunes are encroaching on fertile lands of the Nile Valley to the south. He confirmed that this process is ac tive in several places along the western borders of the Nile Valley, south of Cairo. Kishk (1977) warned for the increase of dune encroachment on fertile land along the Western borders of the Nile Valley, espe cially after the completion of the High Dam and hence the absence of Nile alluvium. Monir et al (1984) refered also to the failure of reclamation projects, situated on the Western border of the Nile Valley, (El-Menia governorate). On the Eastern side of the valley, the cultivated strip is exposed to the danger of occasional thunder storms. The United Nation report (1980-1982) reffers that thunderstorms became more frequent during the last years. The El-Menia province was exposed to the

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