Determining the temporal and spatial variation of the land cover according to CORINE(1990-2018) in the basin of Kesis Stream (Southern Türkiye)

Abstract

Human has interfered with nature in many different ways and tried to benefit from it since the dawn of time. Especially during and after the Industrial Revolution, human pressure on nature exploded. Due to this increasing pressure, global warming and climate change have occurred, resulting in events such as landslides, floods, and droughts. In this study, CORINE land cover data were used to determine the temporal variation of land use/cover (1990-2018) in the basin of Kesis Stream. CORINE land use/cover data, which was created for periods of ten and six years (1990-2000-2006-2012-2018), was processed through geographic information systems (GIS) and presented with various figures, graphics, and tables. Accordingly, the discontinuous urban fabrics in the basin covered an area of 1.09 km2 in the 1990-2000 period, while they covered an area of 1.35 km2 with a partial increase in 2018. The basin is mainly covered with forest and agricultural fields. While the forest lands (1990-code; 311, 312, 313, 324) covered an area of 410.29 km2 in 1990, they gradually increased to 446.39 km2 in 2018. While the agricultural lands covered an area of 368.04 km2 in 1990 (code-1990; 211, 212, 242, 242), they decreased to an area of 326.85 km2 in 2018 a significant decrease. According to these results, it can be asserted that the morphological structure of the basin, with steep and deep valleys has restricted adverse human activities and reduced forest destruction in the last 28 years with the implementation of nature protection laws.