Determination of agricultural and rangeland ecological capability of Markazi using GIS

Improper management and unsuitable exploitation of land are the two most important problems of land resources utilization in the country. Unsuitable pattern of landuse together with sever landuse changes causes different environmental crisis including: environmental pollution and deterioration, expanding desertification, soil erosion, natural resources depletion, reduction of biological diversity and reduction the potential of land capability. These problems significantly influence the production resources of recent and future generation and prevent sustainable development of the country. In this research, ecological land capability of Markazi Province that is the most important part of the procedure of landuse planning were determined with preparing ecological resources maps such as topography with scale of 1/25000, geology, soil, climate and related parameters, vegetation cover, faults, water resources and etc. Slop, aspect and height class maps also were established based on Digital elevation model of the area and integrated together to form landform map of the Province. Environmental units with base 1, 2 and 3 also were established with overlaying land form, soil and vegetation maps. Ecological land capability of agricultural and rangeland were put in 7 classes. The results show that from total 2921364.6h area of Markazi Province, 15000 ecological units could be determined of which 121689.5h or %4.16 were in class of 1, 191634.77 h or %6 in class of 2, 615791.5 h or %21.07 in class of 3, 569834.8 h or %19 in class of 4, 1170699.6h or %40 in class of 5, 188381.18 h or %6.44 in class of 6 and 63333.2 h or %2.16 in class of 7 of agriculture and rangeland ecological capabilities.