EVALUATION OF GROUND WATER POTENTIAL OF NALLATANGAAL ODAI USING REMOTE SENSING AND GIS TECHNIQUES Rishabh Tripathi, Shyju K and Jasim H.R,, Bharathidasan University Abstract Ground water is the source of water for most of anthropogenic activities in the recent times because of the limited availability of surface water and depletion of the same due to the failures in monsoon and over exploitation. It is essential to study the status of ground water in micro or watershed level for the optimum utilization and preserve the same for the future and to improve the quality it both qualitatively and quantitatively. In this study an attempt is made to assess the ground water potential of Nallatangaal Odai of Amaravathi basin using Geoinformatics techniques. Data collected from various sources importantly the remote sensing data. The methodology and technique adopted to achieve the task is weighted overlay analysis technique in Geographic Information System. The parameters that influence the ground water potential is analyzed in detail namely geology, lineament density, geomorphology, slope, soil texture, land use land cover, rainfall and stream density. Understanding the influence of the specific parameters in ground water potential each thematic layers are assigned weightage and spatial overlay technique is carried out to obtain the intended result. The resultant groundwater zones are classified into four class very high, high, moderate and low. The knowledge on strength of ground water based on ground water zones help in management and development of the groundwater in the study area. Keywords- Nallatangaal Odai, RS and GIS, Thematic layers, Ground Water Potential. I. INTRODUCTION Groundwater is under stress at present because of the influence of climate and anthropogenic activities. Groundwater is widely distributed and is used for domestic, industrial and agricultural purposes throughout the world. Groundwater is a valuable natural resource that is essential for human health, socio-economic development and functioning of ecosystems (Steube et al. 009). Applications of Remote Sensing and GIS for the exploration of groundwater potential zones are carried out by a number of researchers around the world, and it was found that the involved factors in determining the groundwater potential zones were different, and hence the results vary accordingly. (Teeuw, 99) relied only on the lineaments for groundwater exploration and others merged different factors apart from lineaments like drainage density, geomorphology, geology, slope, land-use, rainfall intensity and soil texture (Sander et al., 996; Das, 000; Sener et al., 00; Ganapuram et al., 008). The derived results are found to be satisfactory based on field survey and it varies from one region to another because of varied geo-environmental conditions. A variety of techniques can be used to provide information about its potential occurrence, directly or indirectly. Remote Sensing is one of the advanced technologies that have been used for understanding sub-surface water condition (Todd, 980) with their advantages of spectral, spatial and temporal nature of data that can be available for even inaccessible areas within a short span of time. RS has become a very handy tool for accessing, preserving and monitoring the groundwater resources (Gupta and Srivastava, 00). For decades, RS images have been used successfully for mapping and extraction of geomorphology, geology, slope, soil type, landuse, fractures, DOI:0.6/IJAPSA.07.07.BMQOZ Page 7
recharge & discharge areas and lineament etc. (Dar et al. 00; Agarwal et al. 0). Integration of these layers can give quick and profitable demarcation of groundwater potential zones. II. STUDY AREA The Nallatangaal Odai is a part of Amravati river basin and is located between 0 7' 0" to 0 ' 8" N latitudes and 77 6' 7" to 77 ' 0" E longitudes in the Western Ghats. The watershed occupies an area of 87sq.km. Nallatangaal Odai covers three taluks of Tripur and Dindigul Districts namely Kodaikanal in south, Palani in middle and Dharapuram in the north. Nallathangal Odai is situated at an elevation of mts from mean sea level. It is the major drainage flowing south to north sourced from Kodaikanal and Palani Hills. It is cold and temperate area receiving maximum rainfall from north east monsoon and intense summer showers in April and June. Structural hill and valley highly dissected complex with denudation pediments and anthropogenic terrain are the chief terrain features. The large portion of the area is left fallow and minor area is under crop and having limited settlement. Figure : Location of Study Area III. DATA AND METHODOLOGY The first focus of study is to find physical aspects of Nallatangaal Odai with the help of data from different sources namely satellite images of CARTOSAT - and IRS P6 - LISS IV, Survey of India toposheet (:0000) and previous research work in the area. Delineation of Watershed boundary and extraction of drainage is from Survey of India toposheet, geomorphology and lineament is extracted from Bhuvan thematic services, soil data collected from agriculture and soil survey departments and geology data is collected from Geological Survey of India. Land use layer is prepared by processing the LISS IV and slope from CARTOSAT - satellite images. A spatial model is developed to execute the methodology considering the various thematic layers that influence the ground water. The thematic layers are then integrated with the help of weighted @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 7
overlay analysis in GIS environment to obtain the intended result. IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION.. Geomorphology Geomorphology reflects various landform and topographical features. Surface water is one of the important geomorphological agents in the development and shaping of landscapes and landforms; thus hydro-geomorphological studies are of importance in planning and execution of groundwater exploration (Fashae et al. 0). Geomorphic features in the study area are active anthropogenic origin, denudation origin - low/pediment, structural origin - low, structural origin - high and fluvial origin. Geomorphology reflects various land form and structural features. It is classified in terms of groundwater potentiality... Land Use The land use and land cover analysis is carried out with the help of LISS IV images for the year 0. The major land use features were identified and delineated. The features identified are unirrigated current fallow (9.0 sq.km), irrigated crop land (. sq.km), plantation (8. sq.km), dense forest (9.6 sq.km), sparse forest (.79 sq.km), water bodies (8.8 sq.km), built-up land (. sq.km) and barren land (7.9 sq.km). The major portion of the watershed is currently fallow. Land cover influences the ground water infiltration and alters the rate of percolation of precipitation on the hill slope. Different training sets were created for each land cover class. @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 7
.. Geology Groundwater occurrence and its movement depend on the geological setting. Major geological classification of the basin is Charnockite and Granite. Geological features are later classified into six class viz. Charnockite, Granite, Granite gneiss garnet, Kankar, Metagabbro Pyroxenite and Pyroxene granulite. Granite gneiss and Garnet covers major portion of watershed that is 9. sq.km. Charnockite and Kankar are the other major geological class occupying.77 sq.km and.8 sq.km respectively... Soil The rate of infiltration largely depends on the grain size and related hydraulic characteristics of the soils (Fashae et al., 0). Soil texture of Nallatangaal odai sub basin is studied from the soil data collected from agricultural department. The study reveals seven soil texture class in Nallatangaal odai namely clay, clay loam, sandy clay, sandy loam, and sandy clay loam. Rank of soil has been assigned on the basis of their infiltration rate. Sandy soil has high infiltration rate and clayey soil has least infiltration rate in the watershed... Slope Slope is an important factor for the identification of groundwater potential zones. In general, closely spaced contours represent steeper slopes and sparse contours exhibit gentle slope. Nallatangaal odai is the plain land having high elevation in the southern parts. The southern hilly areas has the steep slope and it gradually reduces to its foot hills forming moderate slope ends up with the gentle slope at the bottom which continues throughout the watershed area covering larger portion of Nallatangaal odai and traces of very gentle slope areas can be noticed in between gentle slope..6. Lineament and Lineament Density Lineaments are straight linear elements visible at the Earth's surface as a significant lines of landscape (Hobbs, 90). Geological features that give rise to lineaments include faults, shear zones, fractures, dykes and veins as well as bedding planes and stratigraphic contacts. The lineament density of Nallatangaal odai is classified into five interval class they are 0-0.m, 0. - 0.8m, 0.8 -.8m,.8 -.7m and.7 -.m. Structural lineaments - dykes and structural lineaments joint / fracture are the two lineament features identified in Nallatangaal odai. These features reveal the surface and underlying structural features. Lineaments are indicators of subsurface faults and fractures influencing the occurrence of ground water acting as canals and reservoirs. The dykes act as conductors based on intensity of faults and fracturing. The length of the Dykes is most important in controlling regional subsurface water flow. Lineament density of an area can ultimately expose the groundwater potential, since the presence of lineaments usually signifies a permeable zone. Areas with high lineament density are good for groundwater potential zones (Haridas et al., 998)..7. Rainfall Rainfall is important sources for groundwater availability through the water cycle. The high rainfall amounts high recharge favoring groundwater potential and vice versa. Nallatangaal odai receives highest rainfall during northwest monsoon. Spatial distribution of rainfall is carried out using spatial interpolation techniques in GIS using average annual rainfall for the past three decades from 98 to 0. The result is classified into five. The lowest rainfall recorded in Nallatangaal odai is 8mm and the highest is 89mm. The spatial distribution of rainfall shows that there is decreasing trend in rainfall from the high elevated southern areas towards the north and moderate rainfall is noticed in the middle of Nallatangaal odai. The rainfall classes were then reclassified and ranked based on their influence on the movement and storage of groundwater. @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 7
.8. Stream Density Drainage density is defined as the total length of streams of all orders per drainage area. The drainage density indicates the closeness of spacing of channels (Horton, 9). Drainage density is the closeness of spacing of stream channels. If the area is having low drainage density it shows that the probability of recharge or groundwater prospecting is more. The areas with high drainage density are not good sites for groundwater development because of greater surface runoff. It is a measure of the total length of the stream segment of all orders per unit area. Drainage density indirectly indicates the groundwater potential of an area due to its relation to surface run-off and permeability. The drainage density map of the is grouped in to six classes 0 -.0 m,.0 -.m,. -.8 m,.8-. m,. -. m and. m and above. Figure : Land use Figure : Geomorphology Figure : Geology Figure 6: Soil @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 76
Figure 7: Slope Figure 8: Lineament Density Figure 9: Rainfall V. OVERLAY ANALYSIS Figure 0: Stream Density The features that influence the ground water storage are analyzed in detail and spatial distribution of those is prepared as thematic layers. Spatial overlay method in Arc GIS environment is @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 77
used to conduct overly analysis to obtain the intended result. The thematic layers are first assigned the weightage based on the specific importance of the class in individual parameters. The layers are overlaid and the result is classified into four suitable class based on groundwater potential to delineate the groundwater potential zones namely; very high, high, moderate and low. The spatial distribution of groundwater potential in Nallatangaal odai shows that the southern areas are having high reserves of groundwater which gradually reducing towards north it is because of the over exploitation of the groundwater for irrigation and related purposes where the agriculture is dominant and receives less rainfall. Ground water potential is high in the south and along the tracks of Nallatangaal odai flowing towards north to join Amaravathi River and the adjacent areas are having moderate to less ground water potential. It is identified that in Nallatangaal odai 8.6 percentage of area falls under very high groundwater potential zone and 0.,., 6. percentage of area comes under high, moderate and low groundwater potential zones respectively. It states that large areas in Nallatangaal odai are having high to moderate groundwater potential. Table : Relative weight and rank for thematic layers Influencing Factors Land use / Land cover Geology Soil Texture Rainfall Geo -morphology Classes River, Waterbody Crop Land,Current Fallow Land, Plantation Dense Forest, Sparse Forest Barren Land, Rock Settlement, Hill Area Charnockite Granite Granite Gneiss, Garnet Kankar Metagabbro Pyroxenite Pyroxene Granulite Clay Clay Loam Loamy Sand Sandy Clay Loam Sandy Loam 8 6mm 6 66mm 66 69mm 69-77mm 77 8mm Anthropogenic Origin Denudation originlow/pediment Structural origin-low Structural origin-high Fluvial origin Potentiality for ground-water (Suitable For Class) Very good Poor Very Poor Poor Poor High Very High Very Weight age 7 9 0 8 Rank @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 78
Stream Density Slope Lineament 0 m m m m >m 0 % 0% 0 0% 0 0% >0% 0 0.m 0. 0.8m 0.8.8m.8.7m.7.m Very Low Very low Very Low Very low Very Low Very Low Table : Groundwater Potential Zones Potential Zone Area in sq km. Area in Percentage Very High 90.8 8.6 High 97.66 0. 67.7. Low.88 06. Total 87.9 00.00 7 Figure : Ground Water Potential Zones of Nallatangaal Odai @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 79
VI. CONCLUSION The study on groundwater potential through integration and weightage overlay analysis in GIS environment using physical parameters that influence the groundwater is being successfully carried out in this study. The methodology begins with the preparation of thematic layers from different data sources and next deriving the weights using overlay analysis to find groundwater potential. The weightage is assigned to different layers and overlaid to achieve the intended result groundwater potential zones of Nallatangaal odai. The thematic layers are first assigned the weightage based on the specific importance of the class in individual parameters. The layers are then overlaid and the result is then classified into four suitable class based on groundwater potential to delineate the groundwater potential zones namely; very high potential, high potential, moderate and low potential. The information obtained on the groundwater prospectus of the study area can be used to identify and extract the potable water for the domestic and irrigational purposes. VII. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support received from the University Grants Commission (UGC) under Basic Scientific Research Fellowship in Sciences. BIBLIOGRAPHY [] Agarwal E., et al., (0). Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones: An AHP/ANP Approach. Journal of Earth System Science, (), pp. 887-898. [] Agarwal R., Garg P.K. and R.D. Garg, (0). Remote Sensing and GIS based Approach for Identification of Artificial Recharge Sites. Water Resource Management, 7(7), pp. 67-689. [] Burrough P.A. (986). Principles of Geographical Information Systems for Land Resources Assessment. Oxford University Press, New York. [] Dar I.A., Sankar K. and M.A. Dar, (00). Remote Sensing Technology and Geographic Information System Modeling: An Integrated Approach towards the Mapping of Groundwater Potential Zones in Hardrock Terrain, Mamundiyar Basin. Journal of Hydrology, 9 (), pp.8-9. [] Teeuw, R., (99). Groundwater exploration using remote sensing and a low cost geographic information system. Hydrogeology Journal,, pp. - 0. [6] Sander P., Chesley M. and T. Minor (996). Groundwater Assessment using Remote Sensing and GIS in a Rural Groundwater Project in Ghana: Lessons Learned. Hydrogeology Journal,, pp.78-9. [7] Sener E., Davraz A. and M. Ozcelik (00). An Integration of GIS and Remote Sensing in Groundwater Investigations: A Case Study in Burdur, Turkey. Hydrogeology Journal, (-6), pp. 86-8. [8] Fashae, O. A., et al. (0). Delineation of Groundwater Potential Zones in the Crystalline Basement Terrain of SW- Nigeria: An Integrated GIS and Remote Sensing Approach. Applied Water Science,, pp. 9-8. [9] Ganapuram S., Kumar G., Krishna I., Kahya E., and M. Demirel (008). Mapping of Groundwater Potential Zones in the Musi Basin using Remote Sensing and GIS. Advances in Engineering Software, 0, pp. 06-8. [0] Gupta M. and P.K. Srivastava (00). Integrating GIS and Remote Sensing for Identification of Groundwater Potential Zones in the Hilly Terrain of Pavagarh, Gujarat, India. Water International, (), pp. -. [] Horton R.E. (9). Erosional Development of Streams and their Drainage Basins: Hydro Physical Approach to Quantitative Morphology. Geological Society of America,, pp. 7-70. [] Hobbs W.H., (90). Lineament of Atlantic Border Region. Geological society of America,, pp. 8 06. [] Haridas V.R., Aravindan, S. and G. Girish (998). Remote Sensing and its Applications for Groundwater Favorable Area Identification. Quarterly Journal of GARC, 6, pp.8-. [] Kumaraswamy K. (98). Evaluation of Groundwater Quality and Use in Vaippar Basin, Tamil Nadu. The Geography Teacher, 9 (), pp. 6-7. [] Rutharvel Murthy Kuppuraj, et al., (00). Assessment of Groundwater Quality in the Flood Plains of Upper Palar River, India. Chinese Journal of Geochemistry (), pp. -. [6] Sivagnanam N. and K. Kumaraswamy (988). Groundwater Quality Mapping for Agricultural Planning in the Vaippar Basin, Tamil Nadu. The Deccan Geographer, 6(&), pp. 07-6. @IJAPSA-07, All rights Reserved Page 80