Morphometric analysis of Vaitarna and Ulhas river basins, Maharashtra, India: using geospatial techniques

Abstract

Drainage network quantification with respect to the climate, tectonics, lithology and geomorphology provides significant evidence of the drainage development, hydro-geomorphic and denudation characteristics of an area. The present study was carried out by using Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission DEM to study the drainage morphometry and its influence on the hydrological characteristics of Vaitarna and Ulhas basins in Maharashtra, India. Results of the morphometric analysis reveal that the catchment of Vaitarna and Ulhas can be described as of 6th and 7th order drainage basins, encompassing an area of 3795 and 4733 km 2 , respectively. Additionally, Vaitarna basin is characterised by relatively higher mean bifurcation ratio as compared to the Ulhas basin, indicative of higher structural control and steeper gradient in Vaitarna basin. Lower drainage density and stream frequency affirm availability of permeable sub-surface material and homogeneous lithological characteristics in both basins. The shape parameters show both basins are semicircular with dendritic and sub-dendritic drainage pattern. The relief parameters of Vaitarna and Ulhas suggest both of these basins are characterised by very high relief and steep slope. GIS-based analysis of all these morphometric parameters indicates the drainage development of the study area progressed well beyond maturity stage and lithology have a major impact on the drainage development in Vaitarna and Ulhas basins.

The Implementation of a Hybrid Model for Hilly Sub-Watershed Prioritization Using Morphometric Variables: Case Study in India

“…The rotation ought to be such that getting important physical information from the subsequent components are possible. Thus, using Equations (1) and (12) and expression H = C −1 R, the original PCs can be composed as:…”

“…Over recent years various researchers have used morphometric variables (i.e., linear, areal, and shape) to prioritize watersheds using the application of remote sensing (RS) and geographical information system (GIS) by ordinary methods [4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13]. For instance, Shrimali et al [4] applied the feasibility of RS and GIS techniques to contextually investigate the Sukhana lake catchment in the Shiwalik hills to prioritize the soil erosion zones.…”

Geo-spatial technique-based approach on drainage morphometric analysis at Kalrayan Hills, Tamil Nadu, India

“…Richard and Pike (2000), Bardossy and Schmidt (2002), Grohmann (2004), Marchi and Fontana (2005), Kouli et al (2007), Esper (2008, Hlaing et al (2008), Akar (2009), Ajibade et al (2010 and Thomas et al (2010) used remote sensing and GIS techniques for drainage morphometry analysis. Das and Pardeshi (2018) worked on the morphometric analysis of Vaitarna and Ulhas river basins in Maharashtra. Radwan et al 2017 andMalik andShukla (2018) reported on the analysis, respectively, in the Wadi Baish dam catchment area and Kandaihimmat watershed in Madhya Pradesh using GIS-based approach.…”

Landscape variables in the Indian (Peninsular) catchments: insights into hydro-geomorphic evolution

“…Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) derived Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of 3 arc-second (90 m) data was acquired from CGIAR official portal (http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org/). SRTM data has been preferred in this study because of its higher vertical accuracy (Forkuor and Maathuis 2012;Sun et al 2003;Das and Pardeshi 2018). The average annual rainfall data were obtained from the worldclim data hub (https://www.worldclim.org/).…”

“…Several factors such as lithology, tectonic, and climate shape the landscape and drainage network (Das and Pardeshi 2018). To understand the dominant role of factors in such geomorphic control, it is essential to establish relationship between the morphometric variables with measured climate, hydrology, and erosion rate data.…”