USE OF GEO-INFORMATICS FOR COMBATING DESERTIFICATION IN STOD VALLEY

• Main Authors: District Kargil, K State, M. N. Koul, R. K. Ganjoo, P. S. Dhinwa, S. K. Pathan, Key Words
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ice; permafrost
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.588.4943; http://www.isprs.org/proceedings/XXXVI/part4/WG-VIII-9-3.pdf

The paper deals with the desertification status mapping of Stod valley of Zanskar region, District Kargil, Jammu & Kashmir State (India), located in the altitudinal belt of 3450m to 6200m asl. The valley, located in the rain shadow region of Tethys Himalaya, is studded by eight major glaciers and witnesses permafrost condition for nearly six months. The valley experiences semi-arid to arid type of cold climate designated as Bc. The temperature in the valley fluctuates between-480C to-200C in winters at different altitude levels. The permafrost conditions lead to solifluctuation and gelifluction process producing immature soils and triggering the natural geomorphic hazards, such as snow and rock avalanches, landslides, and fluvio-glacial erosion. The hazards have been largely responsible in the generation of mass movement and other catastrophic activities that result in high morpho-dynamic activity of weathering, breaking of ice, and damming and bursting of lakes causing the desertification of the region. Various thematic maps, such as maps of geomorphological features, soils, slope, drainage, and meteorology on the sacle of 1:50,000 on the basis of IRS data supplemented by field work. Besides