Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
General Classes Statistics
5000000
0
Cultivated Areas
Natural Vegetation
Artificial Surfaces
Bare Areas
Natural Waterbodies
1975
1123268
562890
413204
2843452
90723
1987
1316117
710093
255140
2635830
102730
2005
1670625
686718
18312
2497157
160725
2007
1783286
403113
89772
2641953
109580
Fig. 6.1
Illustrated overview of the LULC-occupations rate in several years
A new project, begun in 2007 aims to redirect part of the Euphrates from the
basic canal in Arbid Kabeer toward the north, to the Tadif and Al-Bab plains and
ending at the village of Bershaia. This project will irrigate 5 km width of agri-
cultural lands, using the modern technique of irrigation. In this area, wheat and
cotton are largely cultivated, while peanuts and sugar beet are farmed in small
spaces. Before the irrigation project, these areas featured bare land, void of
planting coverage because of the scarcity of water in summer. The East Aleppo
plains end at the city of Maskana and at the pumping station of Babiri. The plains
of Maskana-west follow Aleppo administratively. In the winter, wheat, peanuts
and sugar beet are cultivated and irrigated barley in low rates. The major cultivated
summer
crops
are
cotton,
yellow
corn,
and
low
rates
of
vegetables
and
watermelon.
Therefore, these lands are all agricultural lands depending on rain-fed irrigation
systems, with the exception of the recently irrigated plains of Tadif and Al-Bab,
which amount to about 6,700 ha. Near Menbij City, there are individual dragging
operations by pumps extending about one kilometre or more, which are detectable
on the remote sensing data used.
Al-Badia/the pasture (the fifth agricultural stabilization zone) is largely clas-
sified under the general class of natural vegetation and a lesser part of bare areas.
The Syrian Ministry of Agriculture defines this area as one in which precipitation
is less than 200 mm per year. Al-Badia is characterized by natural plants, which
are either seasonal or permanent, with different densities due to natural factors
such as soil type, water recharge, and the local topography. Human factors, such as
the density of the grazing, modern plantations and projects to improve pastures
also have an impact.
Most of the wetlands and the water surfaces distributed in the study area were
characterized by their short-term duration (except the Euphrates River). As, the
large salty Al-Jabboul lake/marsh, and the marshes of Al-Haraik, Al-Adamy and
Maraga are all exposed to seasonal or yearly floods, depending on precipitation
amounts. The borders of these areas were represented on the thematic maps
according to their expansion in spring season and in a rainy and wet year (TM-
May-1987). This was done to show that the areas may sink underneath waters. As
for temporal valley streams, they can be drawn digitally using topographic maps
with 1/50,000 scale, for example.
In general, the detection, separation, classification and mapping of the roads
(especially, the secondary roads) and the small villages, which underlie the general
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