Change Detection of Land use / Land Cover of a Watershed using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract:- This study reveals to identify the changes of Land Use/Land Cover of the Kiliyar sub-watershed of Tamilnadu. In this study, Kiliyar sub-watershed is chosen as study area which is located partly in Thiruvannamalai and Kanchipuram districts. The objectives of the study are to prepare temporal Land Use/Land Cover maps of the study area to analyze the nature and extent of Land Use/Land Cover changes of the study area and to identify the major components those promote the trend changes in the Land Use/Land Cover. Satellite imageries and toposheets are collected from IRS, Anna University. Both satellite imageries and toposheets are georeferenced to get the Land Use/Land Cover maps for different years (1995, 2003 and 2009) of the study area. The digitization of maps was done using ArcGIS (version 9.3) software. The change detection of LU/LC of the study area are analysed and compared. The results are presented spatially as well as graphically by GIS maps and pie-charts. From this study it is inferred that there are significant changes in wasteland, forest and water bodies in the study area. It is necessary to conserve forest and water bodies of the study area for sustainable development. This study will be useful for efficient watershed management