IIARD International Institute of Academic Research and Development

IIARD INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT (IJGEM )

E-ISSN 2504-8821
P-ISSN 2695-1878
VOL. 11 NO. 3 2025
DOI: 10.56201/ijgem.vol.11.no3.2025.pg126.160

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Appraisal of Gully Erosion in Owerri South Eastern Nigeria Using Remote Sensing Data

Okeukwu, E K, Okereke, C N, Irefin, MO, and Okere, EC

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Abstract

The identification of priority areas for the establishment of control measures is one of the major objectives of conservation plans at regional level. A methodology, based on the analysis of multi spectral remote sensed data (Landsat TM), has been proposed and applied for the identification of areas with high gully activity. This work identifies and studies gully erosion in the study area, Owerri and its environs in Imo State, South Eastern Nigeria which is located between latitude 5.18° – 5.39° N and longitude 6.51°- 7.08° E. The remote sensing data analysis the land sat enhancement thematic mapper (land sat ETM) data obtained was subjected to various image enhancement and transformation. For image enhancement 3 band RGB colour composites were created using ILWIS 8.0 ILWIS ACADEMIA AND ERDAS. These software’s have the capacities of carrying various data enhancement techniques such as linear enhancement, statistical analysis, principal component analysis. The process was employed to enhance the spectral quality of the images. An extensive data processing was carried out on land sat which resulted to generation of the following maps: digital elevation model (DEM) map, lineament and lineament density map, normalized difference vegetation index map (NDVI), and the rose diagram. This paper defines remote sensing technique, discusses applications of remote sensing in geology and discusses gully erosion, causes of gully erosion, impacts of gully erosion, modes, types and mechanism of gully erosion. It discusses solution to gully erosion in Nigeria. Solutions that have been proffered include public awareness campaign, improved farming techniques, cultural method of gully control, enactment of laws against any activities that favour gully growth, and thorough implementation of suggested solutions. IIARD International Journal of Geography & Environmental Management Vol. 11 No. 3 2025 E-ISSN 2504-8821 P-ISSN 2695-1878 www.iiardjour

keywords:

remote sensing, land sat, gully erosion, control, data.

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