Land use assessment of barren areas in Damietta Governorate, Egypt using remote sensing

Damietta occupies an area of about 910 km^2 north of the Nile Delta and hosts about 1.3 million persons living within four administrative centers. The region comprises agricultural lands, water bodies, urban area and barren lands. Agriculture is the most land use while there is a significant development of barren lands, which occur at the north and east of Damietta. The present study aims to evaluate and assess the suitability of using barren lands in Damietta for the different uses. Satellite images have been utilized in order to make an accurate inventory of barren lands. The physico-chemical characteristics and soil rating were carried out to evaluate soil quality. Results showed that soils of Damietta belong to Entisols (recent soils) and there are five classes of soil quality, ranging from excellent to very poor. It was found that barren lands at the north of Damietta have poor potentiality for agriculture. They could be utilized for other land use, such as residential, industrial or for touristic activities. While those occur east of Damietta could be utilized for aquaculture or as bioremediation facilities for biological treatment of agricultural waste waters.