Salem A. D. A. ( 2016). Geomorphology, classification and land evaluation of el-fayoum soils in egypt using remote Sensing and gis.Minufiya J. Agric. Res. Vol.41 No. 1(2): 251 – 271 (2016)
Abstract: Remote Sensing (RS) and GIS techniques are used in this study to identify the geomorphic units and produce the geomorphic map in addition to soil map of EL-Fayoum governorate, Egypt. Soil classification and land evaluation for this area are also performed. According to the RS and GIS works six geomorphic units are recognized. These units are alluvial fan (41.5 %), alluvial plain (27.4%), Flood plain (1.4%), lacustrine plain (4.2%), fluvio lacustrine plain (10.5 %), and terraces (12.6%). The soils of the different geomorphic units were represented by 12 soil profiles. The morphological description was carried out and 34 disturbed soil samples were collected for physical and chemical analyses. The correlation between landforms and soils was carried out and then the soil map was created using the Arc- GIS 9.3 software. Based on the land characteristics, the studied soils were classified up to the family level according to Soil Survey Staff (2014). These soils could be affiliated to Aridisols, Vertisols, and Entisols orders.
The soils are evaluated according to their suitability for agriculture in the current situation, the result revealed that the studied soils could be categorized into four classes namely, moderately suitable (S2), marginally suitable (S3) and not suitable (N). The limitations affected these soils are texture, salinity & alkalinity and wetness. Also, the potential suitability of these soils are predicted which could be improved to highly suitable (S1), S2 and S3 when their limitations are remedied.
Keywords: (Remote Sensing (RS); GIS, Soil classification, Land evaluation.)
