Note: Front Cover -- Modern Cartography Series -- Modern Cartography Series -- Copyright -- Contents -- Contributors -- Foreword -- Prologue -- 1 - Emergence and challenges of land reclamation: issues and prospect -- 1.1 Introduction -- 1.2 Land reclamation scenario -- 1.2.1 Reclamation of cultivated land -- 1.2.2 Coastal land reclamation -- 1.2.3 Mining land reclamation -- 1.2.4 Reclamation of barren or infertile land -- 1.3 Human ecology in land reclamation -- 1.4 Impact of land reclamation -- 1.5 Challenges of land reclamation -- 1.5.1 Security of tenure -- 1.5.2 Regulatory barriers -- 1.5.3 Land use planning -- 1.5.4 The rise of neoliberalism -- 1.5.5 The political economy of land -- 1.6 Conclusion -- References -- 2 - Stages of land reclamation and their impact on the fluvio-geomorphological environment of Indian Sundarbans wit ... -- 2.1 Introduction -- 2.2 Objectives -- 2.3 Materials and methods -- 2.4 Locational significance of the study area -- 2.5 Fluvio-geomorphological environment of Indian Sundarbans -- 2.6 Land reclamation in Sundarbans -- 2.6.1 Phase-1 (1770-80) -- 2.6.2 Phase-2 (1780-1873) -- 2.6.3 Phase-3 (1873-1939) -- 2.6.4 Phase-4 (1945-51) -- 2.6.5 Phase-5 (1945-71) -- 2.7 Consequences of land reclamation in Sundarbans -- 2.7.1 Increasing population and its impact on reclaimed areas of Sundarbans -- 2.7.2 Land reclamation and deforestation in Sundarbans -- 2.7.3 Unplanned and inorganized settlement planning and increasing hazards -- 2.8 Conclusion -- References -- 3 - Catchment health degradation resulting from urban expansion using remote sensing and GIS techniques in parts of ... -- 3.1 Introduction -- 3.1.1 State of river catchments in South Africa -- 3.1.2 Economic importance of urban expansion -- 3.1.3 Usefulness of remote sensing and GIS in catchment studies -- 3.2 Materials and methods -- 3.2.1 The study area. , 3.2.2 Material and methods -- 3.2.2.1 Data -- 3.2.2.2 Methodology -- 3.2.2.2.1 Land use and land cover mapping -- 3.2.2.2.2 Determining the relationship between catchment health degradation and urban expansion -- 3.3 Results and discussion -- 3.3.1 Change in LULC and land cover changes for selected WSA in South Africa -- 3.3.2 Catchment health degradation -- 3.3.2.1 The Amathole WSA -- 3.3.2.2 Gauteng Province catchment area -- 3.3.2.3 The Mpumalanga Drakensberg -- 3.3.2.4 Table Mountain WSA -- 3.3.2.5 The Zululand Coast WSA -- 3.3.3 The relationship between urban expansion and catchment health degradation -- 3.4 Discussions -- 3.5 Conclusions -- References -- 4 - A geospatial appraisal of urban expansion within the Teesta-Mahananda interfluve in and around Siliguri town, W ... -- 4.1 Introduction -- 4.2 Materials and methods -- 4.2.1 Study area -- 4.2.2 Land use/land cover classification -- 4.2.3 Quantification of built-up growth -- 4.2.3.1 Directional and zonal analysis -- 4.2.3.2 Spatial metrics -- 4.2.3.2.1 Edge density -- 4.2.3.2.2 Landscape shape index -- 4.2.3.2.3 Shannon's entropy -- 4.2.4 Retrieval of land surface temperature -- 4.2.4.1 Top of atmospheric spectral radiance -- 4.2.4.2 Conversion of radiance to at-sensor temperature -- 4.2.4.3 NDVI method for emissivity correction -- 4.2.4.3.1 Calculating NDVI -- 4.2.4.3.2 Calculating the proportion of vegetation -- 4.2.4.3.3 Calculating land surface emissivity -- 4.2.5 Calculation of different indices -- 4.2.5.1 NDVI -- 4.2.5.2 Normalized difference water index -- 4.2.5.3 Normalized difference built-up index -- 4.3 Results -- 4.3.1 Multitemporal LULC dynamics -- 4.3.2 Landscape analysis -- 4.3.2.1 Directional and zonal urban expansion -- 4.3.2.2 Spatial metrics of urban growth -- 4.3.3 Land surface temperature and the urban heat pockets. , 4.3.4 Changes in area of natural vegetation and waterbodies -- 4.4 Discussion -- 4.5 Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 5 - Wasteland reclamation and geospatial solution: existing scenario and future strategy -- 5.1 Introduction -- 5.2 Role of geospatial technology -- 5.3 Soil erosion and reclamation process -- 5.4 Gully erosion and reclamation -- 5.5 Deforestation and reclamation -- 5.6 Overgrazing and reclamation -- 5.7 Loss of organic content and reclamation -- 5.8 Flood/landslide and reclamation -- 5.9 Salinization and reclamation -- 5.10 Local/diffuse contamination and reclamation -- 5.11 Biodiversity and reclamation -- 5.12 Mining and reclamation using geospatial tool -- 5.13 Recommendation -- References -- 6 - Mapping of wastelands and significance of morphometric analysis in wasteland management-a remote sensing and GI ... -- 6.1 Introduction -- 6.2 Study area -- 6.3 Geology -- 6.4 Materials and methods -- 6.5 Results and discussion -- 6.5.1 Mapping of wastelands using traditional pixel-based classification and rigorous object-based classification -- 6.5.2 Mapping of wastelands using traditional pixel-based classification -- 6.5.3 Mapping of wastelands using rigorous object-based classification -- 6.5.4 Accuracy assessment of pixel-based and object-based LULC classification -- 6.6 Use of morphometric analysis in wastelands management -- 6.6.1 Linear properties of the drainage basin -- 6.6.1.1 Mean Stream Length (Lu) -- 6.6.1.2 Weighted mean bifurcation ratio (Rbwm) -- 6.6.1.3 Length of overland flow (Lo) -- 6.6.1.4 Sinuosity index -- 6.6.2 Areal properties of the drainage basins -- 6.6.2.1 Drainage density (Dd) -- 6.6.2.2 Stream frequency (Fs) -- 6.6.2.3 Drainage texture (Rt) -- 6.6.2.4 Form factor (Rf) -- 6.6.2.5 Circularity ratio (Rc) -- 6.6.2.6 Elongation ratio (Re) -- 6.6.2.7 Constant of channel maintenance (C). , 6.6.3 Relief properties of the drainage basin -- 6.6.3.1 Basin relief (H) -- 6.6.3.2 Dissection Index (DI) -- 6.6.3.3 Relief ratio (Rh) -- 6.6.3.4 Ruggedness number (Rn) -- 6.7 Relationship between wastelands categories and morphometric properties -- 6.7.1 Correlation among the Wasteland categories versus drainage texture (Rt) -- 6.7.2 Correlation among the Wasteland categories versus Dissection Index -- 6.7.3 Correlation among the Wasteland categories versus relief ratio -- 6.7.4 Correlation among the Wasteland categories versus Ruggedness number -- 6.7.5 Principal components analysis of wastelands categories and morphometric properties -- 6.8 Subbasins level prioritization of PRC -- 6.8.1 Prioritization of subbasins based on Wasteland categories -- 6.8.2 Prioritization of PRC subbasins based on morphometric properties -- 6.8.3 Prioritizations of PRC subbasins using the integration of Wasteland categories and morphometric analysis -- 6.9 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 7 - Land reclamation open cast coal mine under semiarid conditions-a field-based observation -- 7.1 Introduction -- 7.2 Materials and methods -- 7.2.1 Low rank coal -- 7.2.2 Coal solubilizing bacteria and inoculum preparation -- 7.2.3 Establishment of field assay -- 7.2.4 Measurement of variables -- 7.3 Results -- 7.3.1 Initial analysis of edaphic material -- 7.3.2 Microbiological activity in the edaphic material -- 7.3.3 Physical and chemical properties of edaphic material -- 7.3.4 Additional observations on vegetation established in plots -- 7.4 Discussion -- 7.5 Conclusions -- Acknowledgments -- References -- 8 - Assessment of mining derelict land using multicriteria decision-making technique and approaches toward sustaina ... -- 8.1 Introduction -- 8.2 Study area -- 8.3 Data source -- 8.4 Methodology -- 8.4.1 Assessment of prevailing pressure on land. , 8.4.2 Assessment of the existing state of the land -- 8.4.3 Preparation of potential zone -- 8.4.4 Formulation of regeneration plan -- 8.5 Results and discussion -- 8.5.1 Changes in the LULC -- 8.5.2 Extent of land dereliction -- 8.6 A case studies on Churulia open cast region -- 8.6.1 Assessment of the pressure index -- 8.6.2 Assessment of the state index -- 8.6.3 Identification of potential zone -- 8.7 Sustainable approach toward regeneration -- 8.8 Conclusion -- References -- 9 - Alternative use of abandoned mines for geotourism: a case study using geoinformatics -- 9.1 Introduction -- 9.2 The study area -- 9.3 Materials and methods -- 9.4 Results and discussions -- 9.5 Conclusion -- References -- 10 - A geospatial approach to analyze the stability of mine overburden dump over reclaimed land -- 10.1 Introduction -- 10.2 Location of Khottadih OCP -- 10.3 Materials and methods -- 10.3.1 Data source -- 10.3.2 Factors contributing to dump instability -- 10.3.3 Laboratory testing of the material -- 10.3.4 Method selection -- 10.3.5 Stability analysis of the OB dump -- 10.4 Results and discussion -- 10.5 Conclusions and recommendations -- References -- 11 - Assessment of heavy metal soil pollution in the agricultural land of North Western Bangladesh -- 11.1 Introduction -- 11.2 Objectives -- 11.3 Materials and methods -- 11.4 Result and discussion -- 11.4.1 Assessment of heavy metal contamination in the soil of study area -- 11.4.1.1 Zinc -- 11.4.1.2 Copper -- 11.4.1.3 Lead -- 11.4.1.4 Cadmium -- 11.4.1.5 Chromium -- 11.4.1.6 Nickel -- 11.4.1.7 Ferrous -- 11.5 Analysis of pollution level -- 11.5.1 SPI and NCPI analysis -- 11.5.2 Transform value analysis -- 11.5.3 Statistical Analysis -- 11.6 Conclusion -- Acknowledgment -- References. , 12 - High volume fly ash utilization for reclamation of wastelands with special reference to mine spoil and ash bac.