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Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) Changes and its impact on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Killiar River Basin, Kerala, India: A Geospatial Approach

Sabu Joseph * , Rahul R and Sukanya S

1 Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Kerala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala India

Corresponding author Email: jsabu2000@gmail.com

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.16.3.2

The changes in the pattern of land use and land cover (LU/LC) have remarkable consequences on ecosystem functioning and natural resources dynamics. The present study analyzes the spatial pattern of LU/LC change detection along the Killiar River Basin (KRB), a major tributary of Karamana river in Thiruvananthapuram district, Kerala (India), over a period of 64 years (1957-2021) through Remote Sensing and GIS approach. The rationale of the study is to identify and classify LU/LC changes in KRB using the Survey of India (SOI) toposheet (1:50,000) of 1957, LISS-III imagery of 2005, Landsat 8 OLI & TIRS imagery of 2021 and further to scrutinize the impact of LU/LC conversion on Soil Organic Carbon stock in the study area. Five major LU/LC classes, viz., agriculture land, built-up, forest, wasteland and water bodies were characterized from available data. Within the study period, built-up area and wastelands showed a substantial increase of 51.51% and 15.67% respectively. Thus, the general trend followed is the increase in built-up and wastelands area which results in the decrease of all other LU/LC classes. Based on IPCC guidelines, total soil organic carbon (SOC) stock of different land-use types was estimated and was 1292.72 Mt C in 1957, 562.65 Mt C in 2005 and it reduced to 152.86 Mt C in 2021. This decrease is mainly due to various anthropogenic activities, mainly built-up activities. This conversion for built-up is at par with the rising population, and over-exploitation of natural and agricultural resources is increasing every year.

Geospatial Technology; Kerala; Killiar River Basin; Land Use/Land Cover; Soil Organic Carbon

Copy the following to cite this article:

Joseph S, Rahul R, Sukanya S. Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) Changes and its impact on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Killiar River Basin, Kerala, India: A Geospatial Approach. Curr World Environ 2021;16(3). DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.12944/CWE.16.3.2

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Joseph S, Rahul R, Sukanya S. Land Use/Land Cover (LU/LC) Changes and its impact on Soil Organic Carbon Stock in Killiar River Basin, Kerala, India: A Geospatial Approach. Curr World Environ 2021;16(3). Available From: https://bit.ly/3IcYV2k

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