Assessment of Land Degradation Risk in El-minufiya Governorate, Egypt

Abstract

El-Minufiya Governorate represents the traditional agriculture in the Nile Delta of Egypt and includes old cultivated and newly reclaimed soils; it represents an area of 217160 ha. GIS and remote sensing are integrated to determine the risk of soil degradation in the studied area. Fifteen soil profiles have been described and collected samples. There were two landscapes: flood plain and aeolian plain. The main landforms are levees (L), overflow mantles (O), overflow basins (B1), decantation basins (B2), recent river terraces (R1 high, R2 moderate and R3 low), turtle backs (T) and sand sheets (S). Compaction (C), water logging (W), Salinization (S) and alkalinization (A), are the main degradation hazards in the studied area and the rate of hazards was low to very high. Soils affected by very high hazard of salinity represented 16.70%, of the total area. The very high hazard of compaction was present in 35.15% of the total area as a result of human activities, inadequate soil management, and using heavy machinery. Soils affected by a high hazard of salinity, compaction and water logging represented 14.66%, 3.60% and 20.50% of the total area, respectively. Moderate hazard of salinity, sodicity, compaction and water logging represented 36.50%, 33.70%, 34.00% and 79.50% of the total area, respectively. A simple model was used to estimate land degradation risk, based on an equation by FAO/UNEP model. A portion of 39.60% of area has a very high chemical degradation and low physical degradation risk in L, B2, R1 and R2 mapping units. The area of low chemical degradation and moderate physical degradation class is 17.00% of study area in T and S mapping units. The area of low physical and chemical degradation is 32.80% of study area in O, B1 and R3. Changes of land use/land cover classes during 1987 to 2018 indicate urban sprawl. Most of soils in the study area showed several categories of land use/land cover change due to agriculture activities and urban growth.