Characterization of Landforms and Soils in Complex Geological Formations—A Remote Sensing and GIS Approach

Abstract

The present investigation has been designed to analyze the landform and soil relationship in a geologically complex terrain of Tirora tahsil of Gondia district, Maharashtra using remotely sensed data and GIS technique. The geomorphologic units of the study area were delineated through visual interpretation of IRS–ID LISS-III data based on the spatial variation of the image characteristics. Thirteen landform units have been identified in the tahsil. The slope varied from level to nearly level with an area of about 63.76% of the tahsil. Rest of the area ranged from very gentle to moderately steep slopes. During soil survey, soil profiles were studied for morphological features. Horizon-wise soil samples were collected from the representative soil profiles on each landform unit. The depth of soil varied from 25 to 160 cm and colour from dark brown to very dark grayish brown. The texture ranged from clay loam to clayey in accordance with higher and lower topographic positions respectively. Higher available water holding capacity (AWC 285 mm) is found in low-lying area and low to medium AWC (140 mm) is noticed in the soils developed at higher elevation. The soils reaction (pH) is strongly acidic in nature (pH 5.2) on dissected hills, linear ridge and moderately weathered pediments, whereas, the soils are moderately to slightly acidic in nature (pH 5.5 to 6.5) on hills, shallow weathered pediments, moderately weathered pediments, deeply weathered pediments, narrow valleys, and broad valley floors. Slightly alkaline condition (pH 7.6) was observed on foot slopes and aggraded valley fills. The electrical conductivity of the soils is found almost same in all landforms. The cation exchange capacity of the area varies from 10.5 to 51.5 cmol(p⁺)kg⁻¹. The base saturation increases with decreasing elevation and slope. The four major soil orders viz, Entisols, Alfisols, Inceptisols and Vertisols are found in the study areas which are further classified into suborder and great group levels. The landform and soil relationship was analyzed to appraise the land resources in the tahsil. The study shows that the application of remotely sensed data and GIS are immensely helpful in land resources appraisal for their management on sustainable basis.