STUDY SOME ENVIRONMENTAL AFTERMATHES AS THE LOSS OF CULTIVATED LAND IN NILE DELTA, USING REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEM

Abstract

This study aims at highlighting the rate of the urban encroachment on the fertile cultivated land, which disturb the integrated components of the environment in the region of Nile Delta. Also to use remote sensing data and GIS techniques for well monitoring and mapping the land use changes. The area of Kafr El Zayat district in Nile Delta, El Gharbiya Governorate was selected to represent the alluvial deposits of Nile Delta. Remote sensing data Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM) acquired in the year 2001and Egypatsat-1data, acquired in the year 2010 were analyzed for that purpose. The land cover classes were identified within a total area of arable land that covers 49138 feddans. The urban area covered about 4132 feddans (8.41 %) of the total area in the year 2002 but became in the year 2014 as 6535 feddans (13.30 %) of the total area. On other hand a secondary change that related in the linear features as main roads and water canals was scanned in the year 2002 representing 11.06 km2 to be 13.23 km2 in the year 2014. The cultivated land was decreased from 43900 feddans in the year 2002 to 41280 feddans in the year 2014. The total increase of urban encroachment with the linear features changes were 26.20 km2 within duration of 12 years resulting in losing 2620 feddans from the cultivated area. The loss of the cultivated was annually averaged to be 217 feddans per year. This rate of the cultivated area retreatment will be rapidly integrated on the residual cultivated land in the year 2014 (41280 feddans) based on what is become closely aligned to the concreted land will be rapidly denatured. According to this rate of cultivated land retreatment, the cultivated land in the study area will be entirely denatured within 189 years ahead of the catching up year 2014. Most of the urban encroachment denatured the fields of annual crops, which decreased by 2474 feddans, while 146 feddans were lost from the fields of horticultures. As this cultivated land has been denatured and

retreated, cotton cultivation in Egypt is being decreased and its specific quality " extra long staple cotton" will be surely collapse. This retreatment of cultivated land is characterized by unique attributes of Vertic Torrifluvents, fine; Typic Torriorthents, fine loamy; and Typic Torriorthents, coarse loam in the deltaic plain, levees, and point bar mapping units.