Soil resource inventory of Punjab using remote sensing technique

Abstract

Landsat MSS data in the form of BW imagery were used to generate Soil Map of Punjab convering an area of about 5 million ha. MSS bands 2 and 4 (L4) were interpreted singly and combined to form a compostie interpretetion map with which field check, was translated in terms of soils. The abstraction level attained was Great Groups of Soil Taxonomy.

The distribution of soils of Punjab, with Aridisols in the SW through Inceptisols in the Central zone, to Alfisols in the NE sectors suggested a strong geographic bias in their evolution. The major soils of the aridic zone (SW sectors of the state) are: Camborthids, Calciorthids, Torripsamments and Torrifluvents and of the Ustic zone (Central Punjab) are Ustochrepts and Haplustalfs (the most productive soils of the State), Ustipsamments and Ustifluvents. The salt affected soils are found interspersed with these soils. In the udic zone (NE fringe), Hapludalfs, Eutrochrepts, Udifluvents, Udorthents and Hapludolls are the major soil formations.

The soil map reveals that about one-third of the total area of the state suffers from various soil problems, such as soil salinity and sodicity, water logging, and soil erosion. For increasing agricultural production, these soils need to be brought under the plough. The study leads to conclude that for quick and precise macro level land use planning, the use of Landsat imagery is imperative.