ABSTRACT
The Asansol Urban Agglomeration (AUA) in West Bengal has been selected for this study which is well renowned for its mineral resources, which include manganese coal, silica bricks, calcium carbonate, abrasives, glass sands, bauxite, iron ore, moulding sands, building supplies, laterite, etc. This chapter examines the temporal and spatial aspects of land-use/land-cover classification, land surface temperature, built-up index, vegetation index, and water index to know agriculture land transformation from 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2021 by utilizing geographic information systems and employing the Random Forest classification method using collected images from the Landsat Thematic Mapper for 1991, 2001, and 2011 and one Landsat Operational Land Imager for 2021. The overall findings suggested that this city’s landscape has changed significantly, primarily towards the south-east direction. But the major concern is that the expansion is with the encroachment of cropland to a built-up area around AUA. Consequently, the built-up area has been observed in the south-east section and followed by a north-west and eastern section of the study area. The maximum land surface temperature value was 31.25°C in 1991 which became 44.45°C in 2021, resulting in decreases in vegetation and agricultural land. Cropland and vegetation land in 1991 were 252.23 km2 and 90.67 km2, respectively, which declined to 174.06 km2 and 68.51 km2 in 2021. On the other hand, the built-up area increased from 73.01 to 161.56 km2. It is evident from the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index that the minimum value in 1991 was −0.3 which decreased to −0.14 in 2011, while the maximum Normalized Difference Vegetation Index value in 1991 was 0.52 which decreased to 0.4 in 2011. Not only that, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index value has seen a sharp decline from 0.524 to 0.233, from 1991 to 2011. For decision-makers seeking to promote sustainable land use in this region, it is crucial to consider the findings of this study when implementing effective strategies.
