Application of Remote Sensing and GIS in Assessing Land Use Land Cover Changes in Morshi Taluk, Maharashtra, India

The rapid growth of the population and human activities on Earth is significantly altering the natural environment. Consequently, this paper endeavours to assess and delineate changes in Land Use/Land Cover in Morshi Taluk, Amravati District. The research was focused on application of remote sensing and GIS in assessing LULC changes in Morshi Taluk from the years 2014 to 2022. The LULC maps for these years were generated through supervised classification, employing both the maximum likelihood algorithm and a multi-sectoral supervised classification algorithm tailored to Landsat sensor data. The Extract by Mask tool was employed to isolate the desired location, followed by the application of image classification tools using various band combinations, such as false-colour composite (5,4,3). The classification scheme for LULC was executed based on Landsat 8 TM satellite images. Research found that major changes happened in urban area, water body, agriculture area and waste land. Here, in 2014, the built-up area constituted 1.67% of the total land, experiencing an increase of approximately 0.7% by 2022. Over the decade, the agricultural (crop land) area decreased by 2.98%, while waste land, representing 4.96% of the total area in 2014, increased by nearly 0.34% by 2022. The water body, constituting 3.94% of the total area, increased by almost 1.94% over the same period. Analysis of LULC trend of Morshi will help to understand and take necessary action to the line department to reduce the impacts of LULC changes as well as provide change scenario and which will be help to appropriate land use planning and management of Morshi Taluk.