Identification and Mapping of Soil, Water and Vegetation of Hattikuni Watershed

A study on identification and mapping of soil, water and vegetation of Hattikuni watershed in Yadagiri district was carried out using Google Earth and QGIS open-source software. The study area was located in North-Eastern dry Sone of Karnataka at 16˚ 51' 45" to 16˚ 59' 14" N latitude and 77˚ 9' 3" to 77˚ 20' 14" E longitude and elevation ranges from 436m to 622m above amsl. The study area falls under the Survey of India toposheet of E43X1 and E43X5 with an area of 138sq.km. Various Thematic maps were developed using Google Earth and QGIS such as DEM, slope, drainage, waterbodies, flow direction, aspect, hillshade, contour, vegetation and soil maps. From the study we found that there were in total of eleven waterbodies as per SOI toposheets (1960-61) and when compared with Google Earth, only eight waterbodies were found having that too with lesser water spread area as compared with toposheet. The soils in the area were classified into seven classes out of which the fine, mixed and lithic ustropepts occupies the maximum area followed by the rock/scrub land. By mapping of vegetation, we found that the total area coverage was 3456.95 ha which accounts to 24.99% of the total area. This study made a conclusion that Google Earth, QGIS and Toposheet can be used in combination for the mapping, identification and change detection of primary resources.