patial Variation of Some Indicators of Soil Degradation in the Desert Lands of Anbar Province through Use of Geospatial Technologies

Abstract

The desert area extending from the 39° to 40° longitude east and from 31° 30΄ to 34° 30΄ North is selected with a total area of 79213 km2 (within the Northern Badia) which represents a large area of land in Anbar province in western Iraq. The aim is to study some indicators of soildegradation, which are wind erosion factors and peeling plants. This coefficient, according to the US division, fell within the intermediate range and its value ranged from 0.07 - 0.71. It had the highest value within the 113CCW soil series, the same series that contained the highest value of the soil crusting coefficient, which had a range of 0.08 - 1. The DE33 and 142SCW series contained the lowest values for the coefficients respectively. The soil quality index showed the results of good, medium, and poor soil, with the best near the river and the desert depressions. Keywords: Soil, Soil desert, Degradation, Wind erosion, Soil crusting.