INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATICS AND GEOSCIENCES Volume 4, No 4, 2014 Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing services Research article ISSN 0976 4380 Morphometric analysis of Kharlikani watershed in Odisha, India using spatial information technology Kishor Choudhari 1, Panigrahi B 2, Paul J.C 3 1 Master Student, Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India 2&3 Professore and Head, and Associate Professor, respectively, Department of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India kajal_bp@yahoo.co.in ABSTRACT Morphometric characteristics of watershed allow us to predict the hydrologic response to various watershed management practices and to have a better understanding of the impacts of these practices. In the present study attempt has been made to analyse the nature and structure of Kharlikani watershed by applying various morphometric techniques. The present study area, Kharlikani watershed is situated at a distance of 8 km away from the Balangir district in the state of Odisha, India and it covers 50.44 ha area. The GIS model is used to create the basin model map which is based on topography. It drives watershed network from the topographic information and calculate their relevant characteristics. With this topographical map, other maps like soil type, land slope, land use/pattern, drainage network, watershed boundary map etc. were extracted. The measurement of linear, aerial and relief aspects of basin and slope contributions are calculated using various techniques. Various morphometric parameters including linear, aerial and relief aspects such as stream order, stream length, bifurcation ratio, drainage density, relief ratio, circulatory ratio, elongation ratio, form factor, texture ratio, ruggedness ratio etc. are calculated for the Kharlikani watershed and discussed in this paper to study the nature of the watershed. The study reveals that the watershed is elongated in nature and has low drainage density. It has less structural disturbances and drainage pattern has been distorted. Keywords: Morphometric analysis, GIS model, Kharlikani watershed, India. 1. Introduction The poor land-use planning and land management practices during the last decades have adversely impacted the surface runoff quantities and quality through the reduction of land cover, loss of plant nutrients, deterioration of river water quality and an increase of impervious surface area (McColl and Aggett, 2006). Numerous researchers have used a number of methods to simulate, assess, and predict the effects of urbanization on hydrological response of the watersheds. Watershed management is an integration of technologies within the natural boundaries of a drainage area for optimum development of lands, water, and plant resources to meet basic minimum needs of the human in a sustainable manner. Climate, geography and physical properties of watershed changes region to region and accordingly basin response to the rainfall event changes. To overcome the water related problems extensive care should be given to the operation and management of reservoirs and watersheds. Submitted on April 2014 published on May 2014 661
Morphometry is the measurement and mathematical analysis of the configuration of the earth s surface, shape and dimensions of its landforms (Clarke, 1966). The morphometric analysis of a drainage basin/watershed is of great importance in understanding the hydrologic behaviour as well as hydrogeology and groundwater conditions of the area. This analysis can be achieved through measurement of linear, aerial and relief aspects of basin and slope contributions. The description of drainage basins and channel networks, based on the contributions made by Horton (1932, 1945) and supplemented by Langbein (1947), Melton (1958), Miller (1953), Schumn (1956), Smith (1950) and Strahler (1957, 1964) were transformed from a purely qualitative and deductive study to a rigorous quantitative science providing hydrologists with numerical data of practical values. Morphometric analysis using geo-spatial techniques have been done by some researchers in different watersheds which help to understand the nature of the watershed before adopting any management practices. Rao et al. (2010) used this technique for Gostani river basin of Andhra Pradesh, India whereas Chavare (2011) used it for Valheri river basin of Maharashtra, India. Chavare and Shinde (2013) also used this technique for Urmodi basin of Maharashtra, India. 2. Materials and methods 2.1 Study area The present study area is the Kharlikani watershed which is situated at a distance of 8 km away from the Balangir district in the state of Odisha, India. The watershed is located at longitude of 83 26 E to 83 26 30 E and latitude of 20 38 30 N to 20 39 N and comprising of 50.44 ha area (including arable, non arable and other areas). The unique code assigned to this micro watershed is 0407010601120101. The area is composed of undulating tracts of high ridges and low valleys. Most of the people depend on rain-fed agriculture for their livelihoods. Paddy and Maize are the predominant crops grown here. Some of the other crops grown are vegetables, pigeon pea, and sugarcane (Anonymous, 2010). Location map of the study area is shown in Figure1 below. The climate of Kharlikani watershed is characterized by a very hot dry summer and highly erratic distribution of south-west monsoon rains. The project area comes under West Central Table Land Agro-climatic Zone which is characterized by hot and sub-humid climate. Watershed receives average annual rainfall of 1440 mm with 68 rainy days. The maximum temperature of this region goes up to 49 0 C and minimum temperature goes up to 10 0 C. Relative humidity remains within 70-82% during June September and within 38-70% during remaining months of the year (Bhaskar, 2014). 2.2 Data acquisition The maps like topographical, soil type, land slope, land use/pattern, drainage network, watershed boundary etc. for the watershed were extracted from GIS model which is collected from Orissa Watershed Development Mission (OWDM) Bhubaneswar, Survey of India, Bhubaneswar, and Digital Cartography and Services Pvt. Ltd., Bhubaneswar. It drives watershed network from the topographic information and calculate their relevant characteristics. The GIS software like Arc Info and Arc View has been used for digitization and computational purpose and also for output generation. The image was geometrically rectified with respect to the Survey of India (SOI) 662
topographical maps on 1:50,000 scale. The drainage pattern was initially derived from SOI toposheets and later updated using linearly stretched False Colour Composite (FCC) of IRS-ID merged satellite data. SOI toposheets have been used as a reference. Field work has also been carried out to rectify the generated outputs. The detailed topographic, land use/cover, drainage map are given in Figures 2, 3 and 4, respectively. India Odisha Kharlikani Watershed Bolngir Figure 1: Location map of the study area Figure 2: Topographical map of study area 663
Figure 3: Map showing arable and non-arable along with land use /land cover 3. Results and discussion 3.1 Watershed analysis Figure 4: Map showing arable and non-arable drainage of study area The altitude of the watershed ranges from 227 to 360 m above mean sea level. The watershed is basically fern shaped with dendrites type of streams. Mainly two drainage lines were observed during boundary line delineation. The average land slope ranges from 3 to 5 percent and 5 to 10 percent for arable and non-arable land, respectively. The major soil types are red (alfisol), laterite and lateritic (ultisol and oxisol) with limited patch of forest soil (humous). Total arable land constitutes 11.20 ha and non arable land constitutes 42.32 ha. The predominant soil of the watershed is sandy loam (34.748 ha) followed by gravelly sandy loam (12 ha) and sandy clay loam (2.88 ha). 664
The quantity and quality of ground water is fast deteriorating in this area. The major constraints of the watershed area are soil erosion, erratic rainfall, undulated land and poor water holding capacity which affects adversely the crop production and productivity. Due to improper water harvesting and various soil and water conservation structures, there is a significant decrease in the groundwater status. 3.2 Morphometric analysis The linear aspect of the drainage network morphometry incorporates stream order, stream length, drainage density, drainage frequency and bifurcation ratio. The aerial aspect of the drainage network morphometry incorporates basin area, stream frequency, texture ratio, elongation ratio, circulatory ratio and form factor. The relief aspect of drainage network morphometry incorporates basin relief (H), relief ratio (R h ) and ruggedness number (R n ). Various important morphometric parameters used in the study for analysis are described below. 3.3 Linear aspects of the basin Stream order, stream length, stream length ratio, maximum basin length and bifurcation ratio are linear aspects that were determined as follows. 3.3.1 Stream order In the present study, first step is to determine the stream orders for the drainage analysis. The channel segment of the drainage basin has been ranked according to Strahler stream ordering method (Strahler, 1964). It is observed from Table 1 that the maximum frequency is in case of first order streams. It is also noticed that there is a decrease in stream frequency as the stream order increases (Fig. 4). 3.3.2 Stream length (L u ) Stream length is the length of all the streams having a given stream order. It is indicative of the contributing area of the basin of that given stream order. The values of stream length of different stream orders are estimated and shown in Table 1. Stream length of stream orders I, II and III are 1530.4, 1141.13 and 322.57 m, respectively with total stream length being equal to 2994.1 m. Table 1: Stream Order, Number of Stream, Stream Length and Stream Length Ratio Stream Order (u) Number of Stream (N u ) Stream Length, m (L u ) Stream Length Ratio (R l ) I 8 1530.4 1.34 II 3 1141.13 3.74 III 1 322.57 - Total 12 2994.1-3.3.3 Stream length ratio (R l ) It is defined as the ratio of stream length of one order to that of the next lower order of stream segment. It is given as: 665
Lu R l = (1) L u 1 Where, L u and L u-1 are length of the stream of order u and that of order (u-1), respectively. Values of stream length ratio so calculated are presented in Table 1. 3.3.4 Maximum basin length (L b ) It is the distance between watershed outlet and the farthest point of the watershed. For Kharlikani watershed L b is computed as 1081.98m. A low value of L b indicates that the watershed is not large in size. 3.3.5 Bifurcation ratio (R b ) It is the ratio of the number of stream of a given order (N u ) to the number of streams of the next higher order (N u+1 ) and is expressed as: Nu R b = (2) Nu+1 Where, N u and N u+1 are number of streams of order u and that of order u+1, respectively. Horton (1945) considered the bifurcation ratio as an index of relief and directions. Strahler (1957) demonstrated that bifurcation ratio shows a small range of variation for different regions or for different environments except where the powerful geological control dominates. The result indicates the value of bifurcation ratio as 2.83, which denotes the micro watershed has suffered less structural disturbances and the drainage pattern has been distorted. 3.4 Aerial aspect of drainage basin Different morphometric parameters like basin area, drainage density, texture ratio, stream frequency, form factor, circularity ratio, elongation ratio, Ruggedness number form the general aspects that have been determined and are presented in Table 2. 3.4.1 Basin area (A) Basin area is the direct outcome of the drainage development in a particular basin. The area of Kharlikani basin is 50.44 ha, which indicates that rainwater will reach the main channel more rapidly where water has not much further distance to travel. Moreover as discussed earlier a lower value of maximum basin length (1081.98 m) also indicates that travel time of water from the fartherest point of the watershed to the basin outlet is less. 3.4.2 Drainage density (D d ) Drainage density is defined as a ratio of total length of all streams to the total area of the basin and is expressed as: D d = n u = 1 L A u (3) 666
n L u u = 1 Where, basin. is the sum of length of streams of all orders 1 to n and A is the area of the drainage Horton (1932) introduced drainage density into literature as an expression to indicate the closeness of spacing of channels. Low drainage density generally results in the areas of highly resistant or permeable subsoil material, dense vegetation and low relief. High drainage density is the resultant of weak or impermeable subsurface material, sparse vegetation and mountainous relief. Low drainage density leads to coarse drainage texture while high drainage density leads to fine drainage texture. In the present study, the value of D d is 0.0059 m/m 2, which shows that the watershed has extremely low drainage density. Table 2: Aerial aspects of the drainage basin Notation (Unit) Watershed Characteristics Value Area of Watershed A (ha) 50.44 Perimeter of Watershed P (m) 3077.19 Drainage Density D d (m/m 2 ) 0.0059 Stream Frequency F s 23.8 Texture Ratio R t 3.90 Elongation Ratio R e 0.741 Circulatory Ratio R c 0.67 Form Factor F 0.43 3.4.3 Stream frequency (F s ) The stream frequency is the number of streams per unit area (sq. km) of the basin and is expressed as (Horton, 1932): Nu Fs = (4) A Where, N u is the number of streams per unit area and A is the area of the basin in sq. km. It mainly depends upon the litho-logy of the basin and reflects the texture of the drainage network. It is a good indicator of drainage pattern. The value of F s is found to be 23.8 showing moderate drainage frequency characteristics of the watershed. 3.4.4 Texture ratio (R t ) Drainage texture ratio is the total number of stream segments of all orders per perimeter of that area in km (Horton, 1945) and is given as: Nu Rt = (5) P 667
Where, P is the perimeter in km and other terms are as defined earlier. It depends upon a number of natural factors such as climate, rainfall, vegetation, rock and soil type, infiltration capacity and relief. The values of R t for the present watershed is found as 3.90 (Table 2) which implies that it is a moderately drained watershed 3.4.5 Elongation ratio (R e ) Elongation ratio is defined as the ratio of diameter of a circle of the same area as the basin to the maximum basin length and is expressed as (Schumn, 1956): D R e = (6) L b Where, D is the diameter of a circle of the same area as the basin and other terms are as defined earlier. The values of R e generally vary from0.6 to 1.0 over a wide variety of climatic and geologic types. Values close to 1.0 are typical of very low relief, where as in the range 0.6-0.8 are usually associated with the high relief and steep ground slope (Strahler 1964). These values can be grouped into four categories namely (a) circular (>0.9), (b) oval (0.9 to 0.8) (c) elongated (0.8 to 0.7) and (d) less elongated (<0.7). The value of R e for Kharlikani watershed is found 0.741 showing the nature of the watershed as elongated. 3.4.6 Circulatory ratio (R c ) It is the ratio of area of the basin to the area of circle having the same circumference as the perimeter (P) of the basin (Miller, 1953). It is influenced more by the length, frequency and gradient of streams of various orders than slope condition and drainage pattern of the basin (Strahler, 1957). In the present study, the R c value is found to be 0.67 (which is less than 1) showing the nature of the watershed as elongated. 3.4.7 Form factor (F) It is the dimensionless ratio of the basin area to the square of maximum basin length (Horton, 1932) and is given as: A R e = (7) 2 L b This factor indicates the flow intensity of a basin of a defined area. The form factor value of 0.7854 represents a perfectly circular basin. The smaller the value of the form factor, the more elongated will be the basin. Basins with high form factors experience larger peak flows of shorter duration, whereas elongated watersheds with low form factors experience lower peak flows of longer duration. In the present study, the value of R f is 0.43 (which is much less than 0.7854) showing the nature of the watershed to be elongated. 668
3.5 Relief aspects of drainage basin The relief aspect of drainage network such as, basin relief (H) relief ratio (R h ) and ruggedness number (R n ) is given in Table 3. 3.5.1 Basin relief (H) It is the maximum vertical distance between the lowest and highest points of watershed. It is also known as total relief. The basin relief of Kharlikani watershed is worked out to be 55 m. 3.5.2 Relief ratio (R h ) It is the total relief (H) of watershed divided by maximum basin length (L b ) and is defined as (Schumn, 1956): H R h = (8) Lb Relief ratio is an indicator of potential energy available to move water and sediment down the slope. The relief ratio (R h ) of Kharlikani watershed is obtained as 0.051 which indicates that the watershed has low relief and gentle slope. Table 3: Relief aspects of drainage basin Morphometric Parameters Notation (Unit) Calculated Value Maximum Elevation (m) 280 Minimum Elevation (m) 225 Basin Relief H (m) 55 Relief Ratio R h 0.051 Ruggedness Number R n 0.327 3.5.3 Ruggedness number (R n ) Ruggedness number is the product of relief of basin (H) and drainage density (D d ). It gives an idea of overall roughness of watershed. An extreme high value of ruggedness number occurs when both variables are large and slope is steep (Strahler and Strahler, 2002).The value of R n for the study watershed is found to be 0.327 (Table 3). 4. Conclusion The morphometric analysis works as a powerful tool in river basin management and planning, watershed prioritization, soil and water conservation, and management of natural resources at different levels. The morphometric parameters analyzed using geo-spatial techniques helped to understand various parameters such as rock structure, infiltration rate, runoff and erosion of the soil in the watershed and proved to be the potential tool in drainage delineation. The morphometric analysis carried out in Kharlikani watershed shows that the value of bifurcation ratio is 2.83, which denotes the watershed has suffered less structural disturbances and the drainage pattern has been distorted. The value of form factor is 0.43 which shows the watershed 669
to be elongated in nature. The values of circulatory and elongated ratios are found to be 0.67 and 0.741, respectively showing the nature of the watershed as elongated. The value of texture ratio is obtained as 3.90 which imply it to be a moderately drained watershed. The value of drainage density is 0.0059 m/m 2 which show the extremely low drainage density nature of watershed. Values of relief ratio and ruggedness number found to be 0.051 and 0.327, respectively. Drainage network of the basin shows dendritic pattern which indicates the homogeneity in the rock structure. 5. References 1. Anonymous. (2010), Participatory Micro-Plan of Kharlikani Watershed under Integrated Watershed Management Programme (IWMP-IV), Orissa Watershed Development Mission, Bhubneshwar. 2. Bhaskar, C.K. (2014), Simulation of Rainfall-Runoff Process Using HEC-HMS Hydrological Model. Unpublished M. Tech. Thesis submitted to Orissa University of Agriculture and Technology, Bhubaneswar, India. 3. Chavare S. (2011), Morphometric analysis using GIS techniques: A case study of Valheri river basin, tributary of Tapi River in Nandurbar District (M.S.), Shodh, Samiksha aur Mulyankan, International referred research journal, III (31), pp 62-63. 4. Chavare, S. and Shinde, S. D. (2013), Morphometric analysis of Urmodi basin, Maharashtra using geo-spatial techniques, International Journal of Geomatics and Geosciences, 4(1), pp. 224-231. 5. Clarke, J.I. (1966), Morphometry from Maps. Essays in Geomorphology. Elsevier Publ. Co., New York, pp. 235-274. 6. Horton, R.E. (1932), Drainage basin characteristics. Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 13, pp 350-361. 7. Horton, R.E. (1945), Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins;hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 56, pp 275-370. 8. Langbein, W.B. (1947), Topographic characteristics of drainage basins. U.S. Geol. Surv. Water-Supply Paper 986 (C), pp 157-159. 9. McColl, C. and Aggett, G., (2006), Land-use forecasting and hydrologic model integration for improved land-use decision support, Journal of Environmental Management, 84(4), pp 494 512. 10. Melton, M.A. (1958), Correlating structure of morphometric properties of drainage system and their controlling agents, The Journal of Geology. 66, pp 442-460. 670
11. Miller,V.C. (1953), A quantitative geomorphic study of drainage basin characteristics in the Clinch Mountain area, Virginia and Tennessee. Proj. NR 389-402, Tech. Rep. 3, Columbia University, Department of Geology, ONR, New York. 12. Rao, N., Latha, S., Kumar, A., and. Krishna, H. (2010), Morphometric analysis of Gostani river basin in Andhra Pradesh state, India using spatial information technology, International journal of Geomatics and Geosciences, 1(2), pp 179-187. 13. Schumn, S.A. (1956), Evolution of drainage systems and slopes in Badlands at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 67, pp 597-646. 14. Smith, K.G. (1950), Standards for grading textures of erosional topography, American Journal of Science, 248, pp 655-668. 15. Strahler, A.N. (1957), Quantitative analysis of watershed geomorphology. Trans. Am. Geophys. Union, 38, pp 913-920. 16. Strahler, A.N. (1964), Quantitative geomorphology of drainage basins and channel networks. In: V. T. Chow (ed.), Handbook of Applied Hydrology. McGraw Hill Book Company, New York, Section 4-II. 17. Strahler, A.N., and Strahler, A.H. (2002), A Text Book of Physical Geography, John Wiley and Sons, New York. 671