The use of remote sensing to map gypsiferous soils in the Ismailia Province (Egypt)

This work explores the possibilities of distinguishing saline from gypsifer ous soils, using remote sensing data, especially the Landsat TM sensor, wit h it's seven spectral bands which was practically useful. Using supervised image classification, makes it feasible to differentiate gypsiferous from s aline soils and from other soils as well. This study demonstrates that the best way to differentiate between gypsiferous and saline soils is to use th e thermal band of the Landsat TM sensor. It was shown by using the TM therm al band that mapping of the soils containing gypsum can be done in a relati vely fast and accurate way. The final output can easily be stored in a GIS for further practical applications. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All righ ts reserved.