Abstract
This current study was conducted to establish the temporal changes of coastline/shoreline and coastal land use/land cover along the coastal tract between the borders of Orissa to the Jaldha Mouza of Digha Development Planning Area. Digha is most attractive coastal holyday spot in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal. The area is currently under the threat of coastal erosion caused by sea wave resulting coastline/shoreline shifting. The study finds out the Changes in coastal Land use/land cover and also the nature and characteristics of coastal zone of Digha planning area for management and development of tourism activity. As the population pressure is increasing rapidly the construction and development of settlement are also growing, is another reason of land use/land cover changes. Satellite images of 1990 and 2002 and topographical map of 1972 were used to analyse shoreline shifting of the study area. Major land use/land cover classes were derived from four satellite images (1973, 1990, 2000 and 2002) based on supervised classification. A digital change detection analysis was carried out using the classified data sets to find out the nature of changes in the study area. The study indicates that the coastal processes are the major factors behind the erosion and construction of shoreline. The coastline towards the east lied between hotel Seahawk to Digha Mohana (mouth of the Digha river) and towards the west up to New Digha are severally damaged by coastal dune retreat and encroaching of sea respectively. The area in the west of Shankarpur beach and Ramnagar Khal is under deposition and rest of the area on this area is facing erosion. During field investigation all damages, like pockets of erosions on the sea beach and along the constructed sea wall were observed.
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call