Remote sensing of desertification and study of temporal variability of aeolian deposits in parts of the Arabian Desert for sustainable development in an arid environment

Aeolian deposit in part of the Arabian Desert is mapped using ASTER data to understand desertification, land encroachment, and degradation, and to assess agricultural development in arid regions. In this study, the interpretation of emissive spectra of sand deposits showed the presence of triplet absorptions in emissivity be-tween 8 and 9.50 & mu;m and studied with ASTER spectral bands to map the deposits. The ASTER quartz index (QI) images used to study the Abu Samra region, Qatar from 2000 to 2021 showed significant changes in desertifi-cation and land degradation. Analysis of temporal variability of deposits between 2000 and 2021 using ASTER band 12 by Parallelepiped image classification showed a decreasing trend from 9.70% to 2.94% in their dis-tributions due to erosion and transportation. The changes are studied using FCC images (R:1; G:2; B:3) and hill-shaded images of 2000 and 2021. The results are confirmed from FCC (R:14; G:12; B:11) and Google Earth satellite images which showed the occurrence of sabkhas in 1985 and their disappearance from 2015, and the presence of agriculture in 2000 and their absence from 2005. The changes in desertification, land degradation, and agricultural development are verified in the field and evidenced. The grain size analysis of samples by ASTM method showed aeolian deposits have very fine to very coarse (63-2000 & mu;m) sand types with silts of <3%. The samples analyzed by XRD and SEM-EDX methods showed the occurrence of dolomite, calcite, quartz, feldspar, and gypsum minerals with high sphericity and sub-angular to well-rounded characters and suggested trans-portations of grains from long distances. The geochemical elements analyses of samples reflected the chemistry of carbonates, aluminosilicates, and evaporites minerals which could have been derived from the carbonate, shale and sandstone formations, and sabkhas that occurred in Qatar and the Arabian Peninsula.

Automated summary

The study maps aeolian deposits in part of the Arabian Desert using ASTER data and examines their impact on desertification, land encroachment, and degradation, as well as agricultural development in arid regions. The analysis of sand deposits' emissive spectra revealed triplet absorptions, which were then mapped using ASTER spectral bands. The study of the Abu Samra region in Qatar from 2000 to 2021 using ASTER quartz index (QI) images showed significant changes in desertification and land degradation.