IJSRST162312| Received: 20 May 2016 | Accepted: 28 May 2016 | May-June 2016 [(2)3: 91-96] © 2016 IJSRST | Volume 2 | Issue 3 | Print ISSN: 2395-6011 | Online ISSN: 2395-602X Themed Section: Science and Technology 91 Mapping and Reclamation of Wastelands in Yelanduru Taluk of Chamarajanagara District, Karnataka, India Using Geo- Informatics Technique Basavarajappa H. T, Pushpavathi K. N, Manjunatha M. C Department of Studies in Earth Science, Centre for Advanced Studies in Precambrian Geology, University of Mysore, Manasagangothri, Mysore, India ABSTRACT Wastelands mapping and its reclamation analyses has been applied on Yelanduru taluk in Southern tip of Karnataka using high-tech tools of geoinformatics. With the increasing population the natural resources like forest, agricultural land etc., have been devastated and degraded to a great extent. Unscientific handling of land resources in a region causes ecological imbalance & vast stretches of wastelands. The present study aims to propose appropriate management strategies to reclaim the wastelands in the study area. Efforts have been made to evaluate the unutilized lands using Survey of India (SoI) topomap of 1:50,000 scale, IRS-1D PAN+LISS-III satellite and Google Earth images through GIS software’s with limited Ground Truth Check (GTC). This reveals the spatial baseline information in distribution, extent and temporal behavior of each wasteland categories for better planning and developmental reclamation strategies. Major identifiable wasteland categories are barren rocky; land with scrub; mining wasteland and salt affected area. The final result specifies each wasteland categories in the study area using geoinformatics technique considering the environmental, biophysical and socio-economic factors. Keywords: Reclamation; Wasteland; Yelanduru; Geo-Informatics. I. INTRODUCTION Wasteland was referred as the land narrowed to uncultivated non-forested land (Pushpavathi., 2009). The multiple meanings of the term wasteland can have numerous ramifications within any policy designed to “Rehabilitate wastelands”, as is a policy goal in our country’s effort to increase food security (Hoeschele., 2003). The variation in association, shape, size, pattern, shadow and texture were used to identify and delineate different wasteland categories on IRS-1D PAN+LISS-III satellite images and are physically verified through limited Ground Truth Check (GTC) using SoI topomap of 1:50,000 scale and updated the same on Google Earth Image (GEI) (Basavarajappa and Dinakar., 2005; NRSA., 1987). Ground truth verification forms an important and integral part of Visual Image Interpretation Techniques (VIIT) on Remotely Sensed data (Basavarajappa et al., 2012; Manjunatha et al., 2015). Diversity in physical landscape affects different types of land utilization due to increasing pressure on agricultural activities and rise in population (Pushpavathi., 2010). Study Area It lies in between 11 0 42’ to 12 0 09’ N latitudes and 76 0 57’ to 77 0 09’ E longitudes covering an area of 265 Km 2 with an average elevation of 555 m (1820 feet) (Fig.1) (Basavarajappa et al., 2012). The plain country forming the western portion made up of gneiss and the hilly terrain forming the eastern portion and is composed of Precambrian gneiss mixed with charnockite and granulitic rocks which are late intruded by variety of dyke rocks (Basavarajappa., 1992; Dinakar., 2005; Satish., 2002; Meenakshi., 2003; Pushpavathi., 2009). Suvarnavathi River flows from South-West to North- Eastern direction in the central part of the study area (CGWB., 2008). The Biligiri-Rangan hill is covered the