Morphometrical analysis of two tropical mountain river basins of contrasting environmental settings, the southern Western Ghats, India

Thomas, Jobin; Joseph, Sabu; Thrivikramji, K. P.; Abe, George; Kannan, N.

doi:10.1007/s12665-011-1457-2

Cited by 111 publications

(45 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…The hydrological response of watersheds is interrelated with their physiographic characteristics, such as size, shape, slope, drainage density, and length of the streams (Gregory and Walling 1973). Recent studies demonstrated that quantitative morphometric analysis has several practical applications that include land surface form characterization (Reddy et al 2004; Thomas et al 2012;Magesh et al 2013;Kaliraj et al 2014;Banerjee et al 2015), watershed prioritization for soil and water conservation (Gajbhiye et al 2014;Meshram and Sharma 2015), environmental assessment (Magesh et al 2011;Al-Rowaily et al 2012;Rai et al 2014;Babu et al 2016), and evaluation and management of watershed resources (Pandey et al 2004). Furthermore, comparison of the quantitative morphometric parameters helps understand the geomorphological effects on the spatial variation of hydrological functions (Romshoo et al 2012;Sreedevi et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Integrating remote sensing data and GIS tools, therefore, allow automated computation of morphometric parameters and have been successfully employed by several researchers (e.g., Magesh et al 2011;Thomas et al 2012;Kaliraj et al 2014;Banerjee et al 2015;Roy and Sahu 2016) for generating updated and reliable information to characterize watershed physiographic attributes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, availability of Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) and Advanced Space-borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) DEMs free of charge via http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/ has provided new potentials in watershed scale quantitative morphometric analysis. In the past decade, several studies used SRTM (90 m resolution) and/or ASTER (30 m resolution) DEMs in a GIS environment to derive morphometric characteristics of watersheds with different geological and hydrological settings (e.g., Romshoo et al 2012;Thomas et al 2012;Gajbhiye et al 2014). These studies demonstrated that SRTM and ASTER DEMs provide reliable datasets with global coverage that enabled evaluation of morphometric properties and various relief features.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantitative analysis and implications of drainage morphometry of the Agula watershed in the semi-arid northern Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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This study aimed at quantitative analysis of morphometric parameters of Agula watershed and its subwatersheds using remote sensing data, geographic information system, and statistical methods. Morphometric parameters were evaluated from four perspectives: drainage network, watershed geometry, drainage texture, and relief characteristics. A sixth-order river drains Agula watershed and the drainage network is mainly dendritic type. The mean bifurcation ratio (R b ) was 4.46 and at sub-watershed scale, high R b values (R b [ 5) were observed which might be expected in regions of steeply sloping terrain. The longest flow path of Agula watershed is 48.5 km, with knickpoints along the main river which could be attributed to change of lithology and major faults which are common along the rift escarpments. The watershed has elongated shape suggesting low peak flows for longer duration and hence easier flood management. The drainage texture analysis revealed fine drainage which implies the dominance of impermeable soft rock with low resistance against erosion. High relief and steep slopes dominates, by which rough landforms (hills, breaks, and low mountains) make up 76% of the watershed. The S-shaped hypsometric curve with hypsometric integral of 0.4 suggests that Agula watershed is in equilibrium or mature stage of geomorphic evolution. At sub-watershed scale, the derived morphometric parameters were grouped into three clusters (low, moderate, and high) and considerable spatial variability was observed. The results of this study provide information on drainage morphometry that can help better understand the watershed characteristics and serve as a basis for improved planning, management, and decision making to ensure sustainable use of watershed resources.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Quantitative analysis and implications of drainage morphometry of the Agula watershed in the semi-arid northern Ethiopia

et al. 2017

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“…Morphometry refers to the measurement and evaluation of the configuration of the earth's surface, including the shape and dimensions of its landforms, and different aspects of drainage basins [7]. Morphometric analysis is performed through the measurement and calculation of basic parameters, derived parameters, and shape parameters of drainage basins using DEM's, GIS tool, and mathematical equations developed for this purpose [8] [9] [10] [11]. The measured bifurcation ratio (R b ) for example refers to the degree in which geological structure controls the drainage network, whereas, a high value of mean bifurcation ration (R bm ) of a drainage system indicates the runoff and other external agents that contribute to the formation of drainage networks [12] [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometric Assessment of Wadi Wala Watershed, Southern Jordan Using ASTER (DEM) and GIS

Farhan¹

2017

JGIS

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Morphometric analysis is of vital concern to understand hydromophological processes in a given watershed, and thus, it is a priority for assessing water resources in drainage basins. A morphometric analysis was conducted to identify the drainage properties of Wadi Wala and the 23 fourth-order subbasins. ASTER DEM data was employed to compile slope, elevation, and aspect maps. Arc GIS software was used to measure and calculate basic, derived and shape morphometric parameters. W. Wala is found to be a sixth-order drainage basin, and the drainage pattern is trellis to sub-trellis in the central and lower part of the catchment, whereas it is dendritic to sub-dendritic pattern in the southern and northern parts. The slopes of the catchment vary from 0˚ -5˚ to >35˚ in slope categories. Tectonic uplifting and tilting, lithology, structure and rejuvenation are the major factors controlling morphological variation over the watershed. The recognized fault systems are chiefly controlling the drainage pattern, and the elongated shape of the sub-basins is attributed to dense lineaments in the central and eastern parts of the watershed. The R b values for the entire catchment and the sub-catchments range from 2 to 7, with a mean of 4.55, which indicates the distortion of drainage pattern by geological structure. Hypsometric integral values are high for the W. Wala watershed and the sub-basins, where it ranges from 70% to 89%. High HI values indicate that drainage basins are at the youth-age stage of geomorphic development, and they are affected by tectonic uplifting, tilting, and the dominance of hillslope process. Variation in HI values is apparent between sub-basins located at the western part, or, the rejuvenated belt where HI values range from 85% to 89%. Whereas the HI values of the sub-basins located at the eastern part of the watershed, vary from 70% to 84%. Regression analysis reveals that R 2 values, which represent the degree of control of driving pa- Y. Farhan respectively (where the F-value is significant at 0.1% and 0.5% levels). Such results imply that the height of local base level (m), and the mean height (m) are the only morphometric driving parameters which have significant control on HI values in the W. Wala watershed. High annual soil loss and sediment load estimated recently, denote that the catchment is highly susceptible to surface erosion at present. Hence, the present study, and the resultant information would help to plan for efficient soil and water conservation measures to reduce soil erosion rates, conserve water, and to control sediment into W. Wala dam.

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“…But, also quite often, basin discharge measurements are not readily available for statistical analysis. This lack of information can be satisfactorily overcomed in most instances by using basin delineation and drainage morphometric analyses which provide resources for describing the hydrological behavior of a basin and are a prerequisite for runoff modeling (Magesh et al, 2011;Thomas et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphometric analysis of river basins using GIS and remote sensing of an Andean section of Route 150, Argentina. A comparison between manual and automated delineation of basins

Angillieri¹,

Fernández²

2017

Rev. Mex. Cien. Geol.

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A morphometric analysis using Geographic Information System and Remote Sensing tools was performed to study the Agua Negra River basin, in the Central Andes of western Argentina. Well-delineated drainage basin boundaries are a critical factor in numerous natural resources studies such as flood assessment, water-usage, basin protection, preservation, planning, and resources management. In spite of their advantages, morphometry and automatic delineation of basins have rarely been applied in western Argentina. Through such an approach, the current study has successfully used computer-assisted methods and digital elevation models to delineate 17 basins through which a section of International 150 road passes. The resulting automated delineations were later compared with digital-manual delineations made with digital satellite imagery and topographic maps. The computer-assisted delineation compared very well to the digital-manual delineations, generally following drainage divides. The work load (including reprocessing and editing) was sharply decreased with the DEM computer-assisted delineating method, because digitally derived polygonal sub-basins areas were delineated in shorter times than those of the conventional manual method. Statistically, the absolute difference between computer-assisted and manually-derived basin area delineations was 5.29 percent, in average, on a range of 0.50 -13.83 percent. In addition, a peak discharge analysis has been done as well. The slight differences in some results were irrelevant, when realizing the amount of resources and time saved with the automated techniques.Key words: basin delineation; morphometry; DEM; GIS; Argentina. RESUMEN Se presenta un análisis morfométrico de cuencas en los Andes

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Morphometrical analysis of two tropical mountain river basins of contrasting environmental settings, the southern Western Ghats, India

Cited by 111 publications

References 39 publications

Quantitative analysis and implications of drainage morphometry of the Agula watershed in the semi-arid northern Ethiopia

Quantitative analysis and implications of drainage morphometry of the Agula watershed in the semi-arid northern Ethiopia

Morphometric Assessment of Wadi Wala Watershed, Southern Jordan Using ASTER (DEM) and GIS

Morphometric analysis of river basins using GIS and remote sensing of an Andean section of Route 150, Argentina. A comparison between manual and automated delineation of basins

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