AN INVENTORY OF SALT-AFFECTED SOILS AND WATERLOGGED AREAS IN THE NAGARJUNSAGAR CANAL COMMAND AREA OF SOUTHERN INDIA, USING SPACE-BORNE MULTISPECTRAL DATA

Information is presented on the nature, extent and spatial distributio n of waterlogged areas and salt-affected soils, derived through system atic visual interpretation of standard false colour composite (FCC) pr ints on a 1:100000 scale generated from the Indian Remote Sensing Sate llite (IRS-1B) Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor (LISS-I) and Landsa t-Thematic Mapper (TM) data for the Nagarjunsagar Right Bank Canal Com mand Area, Andhra Pradesh. A total of 1710 ha of land in the coastal r egion has been found to be waterlogged. Salt-affected soils cover an a rea of 42800 ha, with saline-sodic soils covering 28480 ha emerging as the dominant category. To make optimal use of these lands and to prev ent further degradation both preventive and ameliorative measures have been advocated. (C) 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.