4.2. Effect of physical conditions on LULC
The physical condition such as elevation, temperature and slope can affect the spatial distribution of land use classes as indicated by Mahajan et al. (2001),Wanget al. (2003) and Fang et al. (2005). They conducted their studies in an Indian watershed, USA and North China, respectively. Such effects of physical conditions are also significant in the Indus Basin. The elevation traverses longitudinally across the entire basin with maximum in the north and minimum towards south. The temperature is inversely related with elevation. Higher temperatures are usually observed in the plain of Indus Basin with very mild slope and average elevation 100–300mabove Mean Sea Level (a.m.s.l). The different LULC classes with respect to orography are shown in Table 3.