Photonirvachak

Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, Vol. 31, No. 4, 2003

Land use/Land Cover Mapping and Change Detection in part of

Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu using Remote Sensing and GIS

S. JAYAKUMAR AND D.I. AROCKIASAMY

Centre for Natural Resources Study, St. Joseph's College,
Tiruchirappalli - 620 002, India

ABSTRACT

In the present study an attempt has been made to map land use / land cover and change
detection analysis in Kolli hill, part of Eastern Ghats of Tamil Nadu, using remote sensing
and GIS. About 467 ha increase has been observed in single crop category and about 434 ha
decrease has been observed in land with or without scrub category. Majority of the area
(13639 ha) is under scrubland. Lesser changes could be noticed in double crop, plantation
and barren/rocky categories. Necessary measures should be taken to utilize the scrubland
and to prevent the conversion of cropland into scrubland. The identified wastelands,
which are suitable for agriculture, have to be utilized optimally to improve the economy of
the people.

Introduction 6.4% and 8.1 to 4.9% and 6.1 to 3.1% respectively

(Rao, 1999). Out of 329 M. ha, geographical area of
Land resources form the base for various
our country, an estimated 175 M. ha land is subject
developmental activities on the earth. Owing to
to some kind of degradation (National Commission
ever increasing pressure of population on land for
o f A g r i c u l t u r e , 1976). L a n d use/land c o v e r
meeting the growing demand for food, fuel and
assessment is one of the most important parameters
fiber, a sizeable area of erstwhile barren, fallow and
to meaningfully plan for land resource management.
marginal lands and forests in the country have been
Land use/land cover inventories are assuming
brought under cultivation (Rao, 1999). For instance,
increasing importance in various resource sectors
over a span of 40 years (1950-51 to 1990-91), the
like agricultural planning, settlement surveys,
area under barren and un-culturable lands,
environmental studies and operational planning
culturable wastelands and fallow lands (other than
based on agro-climatic zones. From a conceptual
seasonal fallow lands) has decreased from 13.4 to
perspective study land use/land cover changes
Recd. Feb. 18, 2003; in final form June 10, 2003
 252 S. Jayakumar and D.I. Arockiasamy

permits identification of long-term trends in time have recently carried out forest cover change
and s p a c e and the f o r m a t i o n of policy in detection analysis in Kolli hill using satellite data.
anticipation of the problems that accompany The accurate assessment of existing land use/land
changes in land use. Information on land use/land cover patterns and their spatial extent is essential
cover also provides a better understanding of the for conservation and management of forests.
cropping pattern and spatial distribution of fallow Unless one takes into account the local people and
lands, forests, grazing lands, wastelands and their legitimate demand, it is almost impossible to
surface w a t e r bodies, which is vital for conserve the existing forest cover. Therefore, viable
developmental planning (Philip and Gupta, 1990). alternative options of livelihood are to be created
Remote sensing and GIS, two mutually compatible to reduce the dependence of people on forest.
technologies, can be used more effectively in Keeping in view of the existing conditions, in the
natural resources management (Tiwari etal., 1996). present study an attempt has been made to map
The timely, accurate and up-to-date information on and analyse land use/land cover patterns of Kolli
land use/land cover can be obtained from various hill for the year 1990 and 1999 using Landsat TM
satellite based high-resolution remotely sensed and IRS-1C LISS III data. The change detection
data on a cost effective basis at the shortest analysis also carried out using GIS to assess their
possible time. Discrimination of different land use/ spatial and temporal extent and other environmental
land cover classes is feasible using multi-spectral problems.
data from satellites with its synaptic coverage, near
real time, baseline information, and its relative Study Area
economy over other methods of survey.
Kolli Hill, the study area lies between 11° 10'
The technique of remote sensing has been 5 4 " - 11 o 30' 00" N latitude and 78 ° 15' 00" - 78 ° 30'
widely applied by various workers in India and 00" E longitude in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is
abroad for land use studies. The u/ban morphology situated in the Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu,
of Saharanpur city was studied by Bisht et al. (1995) north of the river Cauvery, covering an area of about
using panchromatic aerial photographs and IRS 503 km 2. Physiographically, it is a hilly region with
1B LISS II satellite data. The urban land use an altitude ranging from 180 to 1415m at the foothill
change of North B h u b a n e s w e r , Orissa was and plateau respectively. The slope of this region
analyzed by Mohanty (1994) using sequential aerial varies from gentle to very steep. Geologically the
photographs and satellite data. Ghosh et al. (1996) study area is occupied by acid charnockite with
studied the land use/land cover change in a minor bands of pyroxene granulite and magnetite
mountainous region of Himalayas using remote quartzite (Mani, 1976). The mean annual rainfall is
sensing and GIS. Brahmabhatt et al. (2000) 1318 mm, which is received mostly between May
analysed land use/land cover changes on 1: 50,000 and December (Harikrishnan, 1977). Annual mean
scale, in Mahi Canal command area of Gujarat maximum and minimum temperature are 35°C and
district using IRS 1C LISS III data. 18°C, respectively (Harikrishnan, 1977). The
population of Kolli Hill consists chiefly of Tribals
Eastern ghats constitutes a broken chain of
(94.8%) (Census India, 1991).
hills, which extends from Orissa to Tamil Nadu. In
Tamil Nadu, it starts in Jawadi hill near Vellore and Materials and Methods
ends in Alagar hill near Madurai. Eastern ghats is
the most neglected region as far as scientific IRS 1C LISS III digital data of February 26,
studies are concerned. Except very few floristic 1999 of (Path 101 and Rows 65 and 66), Landsat
surveys by local agencies (Matthew, 1983) there is TM digital data of 23 April 1990 of (Path 143 and
not much scientific study especially on land Row 52), Survey of India Topo sheets No.58 I/7
resources in these areas. Jayakumar et al. (2002) and 8 and other secondary data were used in the
 Land use/Land Cover Mapping and Change Detection ... 253

present study. The digital image processing of FCC of 1990 and 1999 (Figs. 1 and 2). The change
satellite data has been carded out using ERDAS detection map is presented in Fig. 3. About 54% of
IMAGINE 8.3.1 software on IBM workstation and the study area (27072 + 2 ha) is under forest cover
land use / land cover maps of 1990 and 1999 were and rest of the 46% of the non-forest area (23290 +
prepared following on screen visual interpretation 2 ha) is under various land use. Among the 46% of
method. In the level - I classification six land use/ non-forest area, the wasteland category occupied
land cover classes, i.e., built-up land, agriculture, an area of about 13788 ha (27%) during 1999. People
forest, wastelands, others and water bodies have utilize the land for various agricultural practices.
been identified. In level - II classification some of Under-utilization, over-exploitation and mis-
the classes have been further classified. The single management could be observed in the field. As a
crop, double crop, plantation and woodlands have consequence the yield from agriculture is not
been identified under agriculture class. The land optimum.
with or without scrub and barren/rocky were
Village is the only class under the built-up land
delineated under wastelands category. Mining is
category. Though the total number of settlements
the only class, which is noticed under others.
in the study area is 247 as per the field survey, only
Isolated villages under built-up land and tank under
36 villages could be clearly identified from the
water bodies were classified. Accuracy assessment
satellite data. As most of the villages in Kolli hill
was carried out by estimating commission and
comprise of few houses, interspersed with trees
omission errors. Change detection in the land use/
and agriculture field, it was difficult to map them
land cover was carded out between 1990 and 1999
precisely. The area occupied by this class is about
using the interpreted m a p s through Matrix
41 ha (Tables 1 and 2). However, this estimate is far
technique available at the GIS option of Interpreter
less from the real built-up land area because of the
module in Erdas Imagine software.
reasons explained earlier.
Results and Discussion
From the satellite data the agriculture area
The land use categories such as built-up land, could be clearly delineated as four categories such
agriculture, forest, water body, wasteland and as single crop, double crop, plantation and
others have been identified and mapped from the woodlands. Crops raised in the land one time in a

T a b l e 1. Area under different land use/land cover categories in Kolli hill during 1990 and 1999

Category Area (hectares)

1990 1999 Difference

V'dlage 48 41 -7
Single crop 7584 8051 +467
Double crop 435 456 +21
Plantation 239 233 -6
Wood land 681 628 -53
Forest 27072 27072 Nil
Land with or without scrub 14073 13639 -434
Barren / rocky 138 149 +11
Tank 81 Nil
Mining 14 15 1
 254 S. Jayakumar and D.I. Arockiasamy

T a b l e 2. Matrix analysis of land use / land cover of Kolli hill during 1990 and 1999 to show the fate of various
categories in the study period

1999 (Area hectares)

Class 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1 41 4 - 3

2 7420 24 7 4 129
3 21 409 1 - 4

4 4 1 214 1 19
5 - 5 586 90
~ 6 - - 27072
~ 7 597 22 11 37 13394 11
8 - 138
9 81
10 14

1. Village, 2. Single crop, 3. Double crop, 4. Plantation, 5. Woodland, 6. Forest, 7. Land with or without scrub, 8. Barren/
rocky, 9. Tank and 10. Mining.
Note: Values in the last column (total) represent the areas in various land use categories in 1990 and the values in the last
row (total) represent the areas in various land use categories in 1999.

year are (kharif or rabi) considered to be single course to facilitate paddy cultivation. About 456
crop. Except paddy all other crops are single crop ha (Table 1) of land were under this class during
only. The area occupied by this class during 1999 1999, which contributes about 4.8% of the total
was 8051 ha (Table 1), which is about 86% of the agriculture land and 1.9 of total non-forest area.
total agriculture land. The major crops under this From our field survey it has been noted that
class are Ananas comosus, Manihot esculenta, preparation of land for paddy cultivation is by
Pennisetum americanum and Zea mays. In some manual ploughing. During the preparation of land
areas paddy is also cultivated as rainfed crop. The they apply some farmyard manure. Farmers neither
Manihot esculenta is the major cash crop of this a p p l y f e r t i l i z e r nor a n y p e s t i c i d e and as a
area. The Ananas comosus is the second major consequence they are getting very poor yields. In
cash crop of the hill. During 1990 the area under 1990 the area noted under this category was only
this category was about 7584 ha, which is 84 % of about 435 ha.
total agricultural land (Table 1).
The coffee, silver oak, pine and eucalyptus
In Kolli hill though a number of crops have are the few plantations present in the study area.
been cultivated, paddy is the only crop coming About 233 ha of land was under this category in
under the double crop category. Almost all the 1999 and about 239 ha in 1990, which is 2.5 and
paddy fields in the study area are situated in valleys 2.7% of the total agriculture area respectively. The
of drainage. There is a general practice in Kolli hill woodland category has thick natural vegetation
that every year they are widening the drainage with various natural tree species. However, this
 Land use/Land Cover Mapping and Change Detection ... 255

78°21 'O"E 78°21 'O"E

I I
Scale
I
1 km
®

11°18'0"N - - 11°18,0-N

I I
78°21'0"E 78°21 '0"E

m Village
Single crop
Double crop
Plantation
m Woodland
F--3 Forest
Land with or w i t h o u t scrub
i Barren rocky
Hamlet
154 Altitude
,,,%I Metalled road

Fig. 1. Part of land use/land cover map of Kolli hill- 1999.

256 S. Jayakumar and D.I. Arockiasamy

78°21 'O"E 78°24'0"E

I t
i

o
Scale
1 km
®

1 I°18'0"N 11°18'0"N

I I
78°21 '0"E 78°24,0-E
m Village
FEFmq Single crop
Double crop
Plantation
:.'.'.':.':.':7--
Woodland
I I Forest
Land with or without scrub
Barren rocky
Hamlet
Altitude
Metalled road

Fig. 2. Part of land use/land cover map of Kolli hi11-1990.

 Land use/Land Cover Mapping and Change Detection ... 257

78°21 ' 0 " E 78°24'0"E

I I
Scale
1 km
®

¢,

1 1°18'0"N 1 1°18'0"N

I I
78°21 ' 0 " E 78°24'0"E
Single crop - scrub
I]llillll Plantation - scrub
Woodland - scrub
F'2222~ Scrub - single crop
Unchanged areas
Hamlet
1=*~~,= A l t i t u d e
Metalled road

Fig. 3. Part of change detection map of Kolli hill.

land is not considered as notified forestland. This evergreen, deciduous, secondary deciduous,
class occupied an area of about 628 ha during 1999 southern thorn and deciduous scrub. Jayakumar
and 681 ha during 1990 which is 6.7 and 7.8% of the et al. (2002) have done detailed study on forest
total agricultural land respectively. c o v e r c h a n g e d e t e c t i o n in Kolli hill. The
degradation rate is high in the forest region. The
All the forest areas of the hill come under this forests, which are closer to the hamlets, are under
category. More than 80% of the forest area occupies severe anthropogenic pressure. The people of this
the composite slopes and the remaining 20% hill use firewood for cooking and the forests are
occupies the plateau tops. There are six forest the only source to meet their day-to-day fuel wood
types available in this hill viz., evergreen, semi- needs.
 258 S. Jayakumar and D.I. Arockiasamy

Among the wasteland category there are only T h e s e t r a n s f o r m a t i o n s indicate faulty

two classes namely land with or without scrub and management of land resources, poor manuring,
b a r r e n / r o c k y (outside the r e s e r v e d forest repeated cropping are the factors, which finally lead
boundary). Major part of the non-forest land is to abandoning of agriculture lands that are
occupied by this category both in 1990 and 1999. subsequently transformed into scrublands. Owing
The area under this category during 1990 was about to population increase, about 597 ha of scrublands,
14073 ha and during 1999 about 13639 ha, which which are near the villages, have been converted
are 60.6 and 58.5% of the total non-forest land into agricultural lands. Conversion of 24 ha area of
respectively (Table 1). The scrublands are seen single crop into double crop indicates the widening
along ridges and valley complex, linear ridge and of drainage streams to cultivate paddy.
steep slope area. Most of these areas are
In the double crop area about 21 ha increase
characterized by the presence of dense thorny
has been observed during 1999. Though there is
shrub and herb species. Many hillocks of steep
not much difference in the area of this category as
and domal shaped are associated with poor vegetal
could be seen in the Table 1, the results of matrix
cover. As a consequence severe soil erosion
analysis in the Table 2 shows the conversion of
frequently occurs during rainy seasons; therefore
about 21 ha of double crop land into single crop
most of the hilltops become barren/rocky. The area
and about 4 ha has become scrub land. From the
under this class was 149 ha during 1999 and 138 ha
rainfall data collected for a period of 30 years, it is
during 1990, which are seen mostly in the southern
understood that after 1987 the mean annual rainfall
part of the hill in Selur and Devanur Nadu.
is below the normal rainfall level (1318 mm). Due to
The tank is the only class available under fall in the rainfall, soil erosion and other faulty land
water category. It is situated at the eastern part of use management, some of the perennial streams
the hill near the village Sookalampatti. The area have become seasonal. However, about 22 ha of
occupied by the tank was about 81 ha during 1990 scrubland have been converted into double crop
and 1999. There is no major river in the study area. area (double crop land is mainly the streams which
All the streams are comparatively very narrow has been widened by the farmers for cropping).
which cannot be demarcated as rivers.
In the plantation category there is a net
From the satellite data the Bauxite mining area decrease of about 6 ha. But from this category also
(open cast) could be identified in three locations. about 19 ha has been converted to scrub land and
Among them two are situated in southwest part of about 11 ha of scrubland is converted to plantation.
the hill near the villages Kulipatti and Adukkampatti In the case of woodland about 53 ha net loss has
and the other in A r i y u r nadu village near been observed (Table 1). From the matrix analysis
Panajattupatti. (Table 2), it is understood that about 90 ha of
woodland has been converted into scrubland. This
Land Transformations
is mainly due to the anthropogenic activity. The
The analysis reveals that in 1990 the single people extract fuel wood mostly from the woodland
crop area was 7584 ha and it increased to 8051 ha because it is not a notified forestland. Cattle grazing
by 1999, which accounts for an increase of about is yet another problem in the woodland, which not
467 ha. Though there is a conversion of 597 ha of only denude the natural vegetation but also
scrubland to single crop, the net increase in this prevent regeneration. However, about 37 ha of
class is only about 467 ha because some of the scrubland has been developed into woodland.
single crop area has also been transformed to other These areas mainly occur in the hilltop where there
categories (Table 2). is no human interference.
 Land use/Land Cover Mapping and Change Detection ... 259

Decrease of about 434 ha has been noted in Conclusion

the total scrubland area (Table 1) during 1999 when
The present study shows that satellite remote
comparedto 1990. But the results of matrix analysis
sensing based land cover mapping is very effective.
(Table 2) show a different scenario. Many land use
The high-resolution data such as IRS-1C LISS III
classes have been converted into scrubland and
data and Landsat TM are good source to provide
the scrubland is also converted into many land
spatial information accurately. Under utilization of
use classes. For example about 129 ha of single
potential cropland, mismanagement, faulty land use
crop area and 90 ha of woodland have become
practices, increased population, land conversion,
scrubland in a short span of 10 years. At the same
intensive fuel wood extraction and cattle grazing
time about 597 ha of scrubland has been converted
into single c r o p l a n d and about 37 ha into are found to be the major driving forces for the
woodlands. About 11 ha of scrubland has become changes in land use during the past 10 years. The
barren/rocky category. overall accuracy of the present land cover study is
85%. Among the various land cover classes, village
In the barren/rocky land category only about and barren rocky categories could be delineated
11 ha increase is noted (Table 1 and 2) and this is with 100% accuracy. Other classes such as single
from the scrubland category. In the water body, crop, double crop, woodland, scrubland are
tank is the only class available, which shows no mapped with more than 80% accuracy (Table 3).
changes. In the case of mining the increase noted Increase of about 467 ha area is noticed in the single
is about 1 ha. In the study period of 10 years much crop category and reduction of about 434 ha is
variation could not be detected in this category. noticed in the land with or without category. Minor
Lateritic rich soil is restricted to some of the sites changes have been observed in other classes.
in the non-forest area. The Geological Survey of
India has identified lateritic capping in only 19 sites Based on the analysis of changes in land use/
spread far away from each other and many of the land cover some of the remedial measures are
sites have no transport facilities. suggested, which are essential for optimum and

Table 3. Accuracy assessment

A B C D E F G
A 20
B 52
C 2 18
D 15 5
E 4 21
F 5 48

G 10

A. Village, B. Single crop, C. Double Crop, D. Plantation, E. Woodland, E Land with or without scrab, G. Barren/rocky
Overall mapping accuracy = 184/215" 100 = 85%
User's accuracy for the different classes: Village - 100%; Single crop -86%; Double crop - 90%;
Plantation - 75%; Woodland - 84%; Land with or without scrub - 80%; Barren/rocky - 100%
 260 S. Jayakumar and D.I. Arockiasamy

sustainable utilization of land resources and Ghosh, S., Sen, K.K., Rana, U., Rao, K.S. and Saxena,
prevention of further undesirable and deteriorated K.G. (1996). Application of GIS for land use/land
changes in the land use. Soil of cropland should cover change analysis in a mountainous terrain. J.
be tested regularly and their potential, limitations, Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 24(3): 193-202.
nutrient status and nutrient requirement to the Harikrishnan, M. (1977). Working plan for the Salem
proposed crops should be determined and the forest division, Government of Tamil Nadu, India.
recommendations should be followed. Crop should Jayakumar, S., Arockiasamy, D.I. and John Britto, S.
be selected based on soil properties and prevailing (2002). Conserving forests in the eastern ghats of
climatic conditions. Crop rotation could help to Tamil Nadu through remote sensing and GIS - A
improve the land potential and to avoid poor yield. case study in Kolli hills. Current Science, 82(10):
Land management and post crop management 1259-1267.
could also be considered to improve the yield. Mani, P. (1976). Report on the investigation for Bauxite
Widening of the drainage s~reams should be in Kolli Malai, Salem District, Tamil Nadu. Progress
avoided to reduce the soil loss and siltation in the Report for the Field Season 1975 -1976. Geological
d o w n streams. A p p l i c a t i o n of m a n u r e and Survey of India, Tamil Nadu Circle, Madras.
pesticides could be considered. About 60% of the Matthew, K.M. (1983). The Flora of the Tamil Nadu
non-forest area is under scrubland category. Based Carnatic, Diocesan Press, Chennai, India.
on the soil suitability fruit trees could be planted
to improve the economy of the people. Mohanty, R.R. (1994). Analysis of urban land use change
using sequential aeria photographs and SPOT data:
Acknowledgements An example of north Bhubanswar, Orissa J. Indian
Society of Remote Sensing, 22(5): 225-235.
We are thankful to the Ministry of Environment
National Commission on Agriculture, (1976). Chapter
and Forests, New Delhi for funding this work
V-Resources Development, Ministry of
through a major research project entitled "l'emporal Agriculture and Irrigation, Govt. of India, New
assessment of forest cover changes in Eastern Delhi.
Ghats of Tamil Nadu - A remote sensing approach".
Philip, G. and Gupta, R.A. (1990). Channel migration
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