Abstract
Quarrying is a major driver of transformation in peri-urban areas, particularly in spaces experiencing both rapid urbanization and increasing pressure on natural resources. This study analyzes the spatio-temporal dynamics of land cover in the urban commune of Manéah, Guinea, between 1980, 2020, and 2024, in order to characterize the territorial changes associated with the development of extractive activities and urban expansion. The methodological approach relies on the use of multi-temporal satellite imagery, its processing in a GIS environment, supervised classification of the main land cover classes, diachronic analysis of changes, construction of a transition matrix, and evaluation of the quality of the classifications using the Kappa index. The results highlight a profound transformation of the landscape. Between 1980 and 2024, the proportion of built-up areas increased from 7.22% to 32.67%, a rise of 25.45 percentage points, while quarries and construction sites, absent in 1980, represented 2.05% of the territory in 2024, after reaching 7.50% in 2020. Conversely, cultivated land and fallow land increased overall by 18.58 percentage points. In contrast, natural formations experienced a sharp decline: shrub savannas decreased from 40.50% to 1.73%, bodies of water from 31.46% to 11.30%, and mangroves from 8.85% to 0.84%. The Kappa values of 0.76, 0.79, and 0.82 indicate a satisfactory agreement between the classifications. These changes reflect the increasing human impact on the territory, resulting from the combined effects of urbanization, agriculture, and extractive activities. The change matrix also confirms a structural recomposition of the territory, with built-up areas increasing from 963.406 ha to 4,357.55 ha, while shrub savannas decreased from 5,401.819 ha to only 230.389 ha over the entire study period. The study thus highlights the need to further integrate remote sensing data and GIS tools into land-use planning, environmental monitoring, and the spatial management of quarries in Manéah.