Detection of urban LULC changes and its effect on soil organic carbon stocks: A case study of Béni Mellal City (Morocco)

Autor: Rida Khellouk, Fatima Touhami, Ahmed Barakat
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Journal of Sedimentary Environments. 6:287-299
ISSN: 2447-9462
2662-5571
Popis: Increasing population and economic development in Beni Mellal City (Morocco) caused rapid urbanization leading to the loss of fertile agricultural lands. So, the present study aimed to identify changes in the land use/land cover (LULC) and their potential effects on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in Beni Mellal City. Geospatial techniques and CA–Markov model were employed to evaluate and to predict LULC patterns based on Landsat images for the years 1985, 2000, and 2018. Forty samples of topsoil taken at all LULC classes have been analyzed to provide SOC contents and soil texture. The LULC results revealed that arboriculture and forest lands mainly tend to be more resistant to degradation, while the estimated built-up surface changes of 10% and 15% of the total study area during, respectively, 1985–2018 and 2050 are being done to the detriment of arable and bare lands. The mean SOC stocks under all land use were about 42.29–278.54 kg m−2 by 2018, and varied following the order: forest > arable fields > barren land > arboriculture. This indicated that land use and management and consequently the vegetation types impacted the SOC distribution characteristics in the topsoil in the studied area. The urbanization linked to population growth and economic development also had a significant impact on the LULC change and tended to reduce the agricultural field surface and, implicitly, the SOC sequestration. The information from this study could be used by environmentalists and decision makers for better land use planning
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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