ORIGINAL PAPER

Evaluation of natural resource potential in semi-aridmicro-watershed, eastern Rajasthan, using remote sensingand geographic information systemA case study

Mushtaq Hussain Wani & Akram Javed

Received: 7 February 2011 /Accepted: 27 October 2011 /Published online: 15 November 2011# Saudi Society for Geosciences 2011

Abstract The natural resources are considered moreefficient and appropriate for necessary survey and investi-gation for the assessment, subsequent planning and imple-mentation of various developmental programmes. Hence, itis necessary to increase the land and water resources levelsfor future demands. Morphometric, land use/land cover andhydrogeomorphic analyses have been carried out by visualinterpretation method of remote sensing data of IRS, 1D-LISS III and IRS, P6-LISS III, and FCCs of bandcombination 2, 3 and 4. The interpreted data is supple-mented as well as cross checked by field visits. The remotesensing and GIS tool could be helpful in getting the preciseand valuable spatial information in understanding thepresent scenario contemplating with the past data andpredicting the future trends. Morphometric analysis wasdone to determine the drainage characteristics of Bankukarawatershed. The drainage pattern of the study area ispredominantly dendritic to sub-dendritic in nature; however,locally structurally controlled drainage pattern is also seen.The development of stream segments is affected by slope andlocal relief. The bifurcation ratio indicates that the drainagepattern is structurally controlled. The land use/land coverchange detection for 2001 and 2005 showed an increase inuncultivated land by 1.37%, dense forest by 0.17%, wastelandby 1.46% and rock quarry by 0.10%. There has been adecrease in the area under cultivated land by 1.99%, openforest by 0.12%, open scrub by 0.54% and water body by

0.40%. Hydrogeomorphic units identified through visualinterpretation of FCC include alluvial plain, valley fills,plateau, buried pediment, pediments and intermontane. Basedon land use/land cover change detection and hydrogeomor-phological mapping, the Bankukara watershed has qualita-tively been categorized into four groundwater potential zones,viz. good to very good, moderate to good, poor to moderateand very poor to poor.

Keywords Natural resources . Land use/land cover .

Morphometry . Hydrogeomorphic mapping . Groundwaterpotential zoning . Remote sensing . GIS

Introduction

The demand for natural resources is increasing day by daydue to increasing population, rapid urbanization, industrialgrowth and agriculture utilization. Natural resources man-agement has acquired much significance for planneddevelopment of land and water resources and to arrest landdegradation process to preserve environmental and ecologicalbalance (Chakraborti 2003). It involves proper utilization ofland and water resources of a watershed for optimumproduction with minimum hazard to natural resources(Biswas et al. 1999). Watershed characteristics such asdrainage, land use/land cover, topography, slope and surfacerunoff affect the status of soil erosion, which needs to beevaluated for prioritizing watersheds to implement soil andwater conservation measures (Reddy et al. 2004). The soiland water conservation measures carried out on a watershedbasis play a prominent role in the strategy of comprehensiveland and water management. Some of the activities carried

M. H. Wani (*) :A. JavedDepartment of Geology, Aligarh Muslim University,Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh 202002, Indiae-mail: mhwani@gmail.com

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out under watershed management include construction ofcheck-dams for infiltration of surface water, terraces for soiland water conservation, tree planting, Nala bunding, perco-lation ponds etc.

Morphometric analysis requires measurement of line-ar features, gradient of channel network and contribut-ing ground slopes of the drainage basins (Nautiyal1994). The work on the drainage basin morphometry wascarried out by Horton (1945), Miller (1953), Smith (1954)and Strahler (1964). The term land cover originallyreferred to the kind and state of vegetation, i.e. forest orgrass cover, but it has broadened in subsequent usage toinclude other things such as human structures, soil type,biodiversity, surface and ground water (Meyer 1995).LULC change is also an important field in global

environmental change research, since the current globalrate of land use change is unprecedented (Foley et al.2005). Soil and water conservation is the main issue innatural resources management which has been consideredby various workers in terms of management of land andwater resources (Moore et al. 1994; Tideman 1996;Honore 1999; Khan 1999; Saxena et al. 2000). Waterharvesting structures are one of the important componentsof natural resource management to conserve preciousnatural resources like soil and water. With this objective,an integrated approach of morphometric analysis, LULCmapping and hydro geomorphological mapping has beenadopted using remote sensing and GIS techniques fornatural resource management practices in Bankukarawatershed.

Fig. 1 Location map of thestudy area

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Study area

The study area lies between north latitudes 26° 50′ 47′′ and26° 53′ 47′′'', and east longitudes 77° 21′ 56′′ and 77′ 27′20′′ (Fig. 1). It covers an area of about 29.71 km2. The maintown of Bayana in which the study area falls is 48 km SWof the Bharatpur town and is well connected by road andrailway network to Delhi, Jaipur and Agra. The climatecharacter of the area varies between sub-tropical and semi-arid. The average annual rainfall in the area is 660 mm, andthe temperature in summer reaches up to 47°C. In winter itcomes down to 7°C. The maximum and minimumelevations of the watershed are 280 m and 210 m aboveMSL, respectively, with the general slope of the area fromsoutheast to northwest defined by the course of the river,whereas the slope varies from 0° to 15°. Major crops grownare wheat, mustard and bajra. The soils of the Bharatpurdistrict vary from sandy to sandy loam and clay to clayeyloam. The stratigraphy of Rajasthan in general and GambhirBasin in particular was studied by Heron (1917); Fermer

(1930) and others. Geologically, the study area which formspart of Gambhir sub-basin has two broad divisions, i.e.Vindhyan rocks in the south and central part and Recentalluvium in the eastern and central parts. The Vindhyanrocks belonging to Bhandar Group are exposed in the formof isolated hills and plateau.

Data used

The Survey of India (SOI) topographic sheets No 54 F/5(Scale 1:50,000) of 1968–1969 were used for preparation ofthe base map. Geocoded False Colour Composites (FCCs)of IRS 1D LISS III (Path-Row: 96–52) of April, 2001 andIRS P6 LISS III (Path-Row: 96–52) of May, 2005 of bandcombinations green (G), red (R) and near IR (NIR) wereused for deriving information on various land use catego-ries and hydrogeomorphology of watershed. Shuttle RadarTopography Mission (SRTM) data of 90-me resolution wasused for generating digital elevation model (DEM) (Fig. 2)

Fig. 2 Digital elevation modelof the study area

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and slope (Fig. 3) of the watershed. The drainage pattern ofthe study area is predominantly dendritic to sub-dendritic innature, however locally structural controlled drainage patternis also seen (Fig. 4). Limited ground truth verification wasalso carried out in key areas to ascertain the veracity ofsatellite data and as an input to the final analysis.

Methodology

Watershed boundary was delineated, and drainage networkwas derived from SOI toposheets, which was overlaid onthe IRS-P6 FCC data to update and modify in terms ofchannel numbers and lengths. In order to analyze theexisting land use/land cover patterns in the study area, astandard visual image interpretation method based onphotographic and geotechnical elements such as tone,texture, shape, size, pattern, association and field knowl-edge was followed to delineate various land use/land covercategories using IRS LISS III FCC of 2001 and IRS LISSIII FCC of 2005. Limited ground truth verification wascarried out before the finalization of maps. Land use/landcover categories were delineated on the basis of image

interpretation. Polygon topology was built after editing andcleaning, and the area under each category of land use/landcover and hydrogeomorphic units were calculated both insquare kilometers as well as percent. The digitized map wasedited, cleaned and saved as line coverage in Arcview GISsoftware. Morphometric parameters were computed usingstandard methods and formulae (Horton 1932, 1945; Smith1954; Strahler 1964). Slope map has been prepared usingShuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data of 90-mresolution in SAGA software. The standard procedure wasfollowed for calculating the slope in degrees. Five equalclasses of slope were identified and correlated with landuse/land cover maps and groundwater potential categoriesto ascertain the role of slope in land use/land cover andgroundwater potential categories.

Results and discussions

Parameters for natural resource management

In the present study an attempt has been made to correlate fewmorphometric parameters, major land use/land cover category,

Fig. 3 Slope map of the studyarea

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LULC area in percent, lithology, slope/relief and groundwaterprospects to obtain results for identifying various suitable sitesin the study area for management practices.

Morphometric analysis

Stream length (Lu)

The stream length characteristics of the sub-basins conformHorton’s second “law of stream length” (Horton 1945),which states that the average length of streams of each

order in a drainage basin tends closely to approximate adirect geometric ratio. Bankukara shows variation from thegeneral trend, representing a drainage anomaly. Thisanomaly may be attributed to moderate relief and/or gentleslope (3 to 6°) and underlain by varying lithology andprobable upliftment of the basin.

Stream length ratio (RL)

Stream length ratio (RL) may be defined as the ratio of themean length of an order to the next lower order of stream

Table 1 Results of the morphometric analysis of the Bankukara watershed

Basin parameters Bankukara watershed Basin parameters Bankukara watershed

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) I/II 4.8 Stream frequency (Fs) 10.04

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) II/III 4.64 Drainage texture (Rt) 11.75

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) III/IV 5.5 Form factor (Rf) 0.38

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) IV/V – Circularity ratio (Rc) 0.54

Bifurcation ratio (Rb) V/VI – Elongation ratio (Re) 0.24

Mean bifurcation ratio (Rbm) 4.98 Length of overland flow (Lg) 0.53

Drainage density (D) 3.79 Relief ratio (Rh) 0.0067

Fig. 4 Drainage network of thestudy area

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segment. Horton’s law of stream length (Horton 1945) statesthat mean stream length segments of each of the successiveorders of a basin to approximate a direct geometric serieswith streams length increase towards higher order of streams(Srinivasa et al. 2004). In Bankukara, stream length ratio(RL) values vary from one order to the next order(Table 1), which indicate its late youth stage of geomor-phic development.

Bifurcation ratio (Rb)

This is a dimensionless parameter that expresses theratio of the number of streams of any given order (Nu)to the number in the next lower order (Horton 1945;Schumn 1956). Horton (1945) considered bifurcation ratioas an index of relief and dissections. Strahler (1957)

demonstrated that bifurcation ratio shows a small range ofvariation for different regions or for different environmentexcept where the powerful geological control dominates.Bifurcation ratio (Rb) in the study area is higher inBankukara (3rd/4th order), which indicates structuralcontrol drainage pattern.

Relief ratio (Rh)

Schumn (1956) expressed relief ratio (Rh) as the dimen-sionless height–length ratio between the basin relief and thebasin length. The elevation difference between the highestand lowest points on the valley floor of a watershed isknown as the total relief of that watershed. The relief ratio(Rh) value is medium 0.0067, which indicates moderateslope and moderate to steep relief.

Fig. 5 Land use/land cover mapbased on IRS LISS III data of2001

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Drainage density (D)

Drainage density is defined as the cumulative length of allstreams in a basin divided by the area of the basin (Strahler1958). It is a measure of average length of streams per unitdrainage area and describes the spacing of drainagechannels. Drainage density has been interpreted to reflectthe interaction between climate and geology (Ritter et al.1995). Drainage density (D) values of Bankukara are high(Table 1), suggesting permeable subsoil material andpresence of vegetative cover.

Drainage texture (Rt)

Drainage texture (Rt) is one of the important drainageparameters in morphometric analysis, which indicates

relative spacing of drainage lines, which are more promi-nent in impermeable material compared to the permeableones. Horton (1945) defined drainage texture as the totalnumber of stream segments of all orders divided by theperimeter of the watershed. In the study area drainagetexture has a high value (11.75), which suggests very finedrainage texture.

Elongation ratio (Re)

Schumn (1956) defined elongation ratio (Re) as the ratiobetween the diameter of the circle of the same area as thedrainage basin and the maximum length of the basin. Thevalues of elongation ratio generally vary from 0.6 to 1.0over a wide variety of climatic conditions and lithology.The values can be grouped into three categories as circular

Fig. 6 Land use/land cover mapbased on IRS P6 LISS III dataof 2005

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(>0.9), oval (0.9 to 0.8) and less elongated (<0.7). High Revalues in Bankukara suggest high infiltration capacity andlow runoff.

Length of overland flow (Lg)

Horton (1945) defined length of overland flow (Lg) as thelength of water over the ground before it gets concentratedinto definite stream channels. The average length ofoverland flow is approximately half the average distancebetween stream channels and is therefore approximatelyequals to half of reciprocal of drainage density (Horton1945). The length of overland flow (Lg) of the Bankukarawatershed shows lower values since they possess highdrainage density.

Land use/land cover analysis

Land use/land cover mapping was carried out using visualinterpretation method based on photo-recognition elements,and the following land use/land cover categories weredelineated in the study area: cultivated land (CL), unculti-vated land (UCL), dense forest (DF), open forest (OF),open scrub (OS), wasteland (WL) (culturable), water body(WB), barren/rocky area (RA) (unculturable), rock quarry(RQ) and built-up land (BL). Figures 5 and 6 show landuse/land cover maps of Bankukara watershed derived fromIRS data of 2001 and 2005. The area statistics are presentedin Table 2 and are described in the next section.

Land use/land cover change (2001–2005)

Cultivated land has come down from 6.67 km2 in 2001 to6.08 km2 in 2005, showing a 0.59-km2 (8.85%) decrease

probably due to absence of assured irrigation. The cultivatedland of 2001 has been converted into uncultivated land,wasteland (culturable) and built-up land by the year 2005.The area under open forest has marginally reduced from6.24 km2 in 2001 to 6.20 km2 in 2005, whereas the areaunder open scrub has too decreased marginally from6.08 km2 in 2001 to 5.92 km2 in 2005. The decrease inarea under open forest/open scrub may be attributed toanthropogenic activities including population pressure. Thearea occupied by surface water body has reduced from1.00 km2 in 2001 to 0.88 km2 in 2005, which may beattributed to the declining rainfall in the catchment area. Thebarren/rocky area has decreased from 1.19 km2 to 1.16 km2

due to the expansion in rock quarrying activities.The area under uncultivated land has increased from

4.89 km2 in 2001 to 5.30 km2 in 2005, showing a 0.41-km2

(8.38%) increase, which may be attributed to the decline inrainfall and depleting water table affecting the rain-fedagriculture. A substantial area under cultivated land in2001 has been converted into uncultivated land by theyear 2005. The area under dense forest has marginallyincreased from 1.51 km2 in 2001 to 1.56 km2 in 2005,mainly along the periphery of the water body. Wasteland(culturable) has increased from 1.10 km2 in 2001 to1.53 km2 in 2005, registering a 0.43-km2 (39.09%)increase, probably due to natural degradation of soil,especially in cultivated land and sparse vegetation areas.The area under rock quarry has marginally increased from0.89 km2 to 0.92 km2, whereas built-up land/settlementhas also shown an increase from 0.14 km2 in 2001 to0.16 km2 in 2005.

The Bankukara watershed has shown a 1.88-km2

(6.31%) area affected by LULC change during the 2001–2005 period.

Table 2 Land use/land cover change analysis of Bankukara watershed

Land use/landcover category

Land use/land cover (2001) Land use/land cover (2005) Land use/land cover change (2001–2005)

Area in km2 Area in % Area in km2 Area in % Difference in area (km2) Difference in area (%)

Cultivated land (CL) 6.67 22.45 6.08 20.46 −0.59 −1.99Uncultivated land (UCL) 4.89 16.46 5.30 17.83 0.41 1.37

Dense forest (DF) 1.51 5.09 1.56 5.26 0.05 0.17

Open forest (OF) 6.24 21.00 6.20 20.88 −0.04 −0.12Open scrub(OS) 6.08 20.46 5.92 19.92 −0.16 −0.54Wasteland (WL) (culturable) 1.10 3.70 1.53 5.16 0.43 1.46

Water body (WB) 1.00 3.37 0.88 2.97 −0.12 −0.4Barren/rocky area(RA) (unculturable)

1.19 4.00 1.16 3.90 −0.03 −0.10

Rock quarry (RQ) 0.89 3.00 0.92 3.10 0.03 0.10

Built up land (BL) 0.14 0.47 0.16 0.53 0.02 0.06

Total 29.71 100.00 29.71 100.00 1.88 6.31

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Hydrogeomorphic analysis

Hydrogeomorphologically, the study area can broadly bedivided into three zones, i.e. runoff zone, infiltrationzone and discharge zone based on the geomorphiclandforms, terrain conditions and lithological character-istics. The delineation of the hydrogeomorphic units wasaimed at demarcating areas of groundwater recharge/discharge and potential zones for development. Theresidual hills and linear ridges constitute runoff zones,whereas the buried pediments and pediments representzones of infiltration. Intermontane valleys and valleyfills act as discharge zones. Table 3 presents details ofhydrogeomorphic units and groundwater prospects in theBankukara watershed. The hydrogeomorphic units whichinclude valley fills, plateau, buried pediments, pedi-ments, intermontane valleys and residual hills have beendelineated in the study area using IRS LISS III data(Fig. 7).

It is found that valley fills and buried pedimentsconstitute alluvial lithology and are considered moderate

Fig. 7 Hydrogeomorphologicalunits derived from IRS LISS IIIdata

Table 3 Details of hydrogeomorphic units and groundwater prospects

Area (km2) Area (%)

Hydrogeomorphic units

Valley fills 8.91 29.99

Plateau 8.86 28.48

Intermontane valleys 1.67 5.62

Pediments 3.16 10.64

Residual hill 2.1 7.07

Buried pediments 4.1 13.80

Water body 1.31 4.41

Total 29.71 100.00

Groundwater prospects

Good to very good 10.22 34.40

Moderate to good 4.10 13.80

Poor to moderate 8.46 28.48

Very poor to poor 2.10 7.07

Total 29.71 100.00

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to good for groundwater development. Intermontanevalleys, pediments, residual hills and plateau are developedon Vindhyan rocks and are categorized as poor to moderategroundwater prospects. Integration of thematic maps led tothe demarcation of groundwater prospect map whichqualitatively defines the prospect zones for future ground-water development in the Bankukara watershed.

Suggested measures

Percolation ponds

These structures are recommended in the favourablerecharge–storage zones to ensure more recharge especiallyin the non-monsoon months. The percolation ponds are

Fig. 8 Suitable sites for con-struction of water harvestingstructures

Table 4 Details of parametersfor watershed management andsuggested measures

Parameter Value/measures

Drainage density High

Elongation ratio High

Relief ratio Low

Lithology Alluvium and Vindhyan sandstone

Slope Moderate to steep

Major land use/land cover type Cultivated land and open forest

LULC change (2001–2005) (%) 6.31

Groundwater prospects (major area) Good to very good

Watershed management (suggested measures) Check dams, percolation ponds and soil conservation

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suggested wherever highly favourable zones with suitableterrain conditions exist. Recharge through percolationponds will be efficient in these areas because of adequaterunoff, presence of alluvium, gentle and uniform slope andcultivation as major land use activity.

Check dams

Check dams are small-scale structures built across lowerorder streams in order to prevent runoff and hold up thewater to enhance infiltration into subsurface. Check damsprevent water from flowing down to join the higher orderstreams and instead permit the water to spread out aroundthe lower order streams and recharge the aquifer. Bankukarawatershed also possesses high drainage density (Table 4);hence, check dams should be constructed. Their probablesites have been shown in Fig. 8. Moreover, they will alsoresult in recharging the groundwater in this hard rockterrain.

Soil conservation/wasteland reclamation

Soil conservation measures generally bring wasteland,barren and degraded lands under cultivation, by adoptingmeasures such as contour bunding, terracing, trenching,treatment of soil and selection of appropriate plants andcrops. The study area has a significant area underwasteland; hence, wasteland reclamation activities shouldbe taken up to arrest land degradation. The efforts mayresult in bringing wasteland under plantation or for growingfodder for the cattle.

Conclusion

Remote sensing and GIS have proved to be efficient toolsin drainage delineation and update in the present study, andthese updated drainage have been used for the morphometricanalysis. The morphometric analysis of the drainage networkwatersheds shows dendritic to sub-dendritic drainage pattern;however, locally structurally controlled drainage pattern isalso seen at many places. The variation in the values ofbifurcation ratio among the watershed is ascribed to thedifference in the topography, structurally controlled andgeometric development. Also concluded from the study arethe mature stage of the streams in Bankukara watershed andthe late youth stage of geomorphic development in theremaining watershed. The drainage texture of the watershedis shown to be fine to coarse. The form factor of the watershedindicates their elongated shape. Elongation ratio of thewatershed varies the watershed determining their infiltrationcapacity, runoff capacity, susceptibility to erosion andsedimentation load. The study area as a whole has shown a

1.88-km2 (6.31%) area affected by LULC change during the2001–2005 period. The LULC change analysis suggests thatthe study area possesses a high land cover dynamics wherechanges are taking place very rapidly. The watershedrequires immediate conservation measures to maintain theecological diversity. An assessment of groundwater prospectsof study area presents an insight into potential for futuregroundwater development. The analysis shows that the studyarea has enormous groundwater potential for future develop-ments. It has a maximum area under good to very goodgroundwater prospects. A substantial part of the study areafalls under poor to moderate prospects especially in thenorthern and southern parts defined by sandstone lithology.The present study demonstrates and correlates few morpho-metric parameters, major land use/land cover category, LULCarea in percent, lithology, slope/relief and groundwaterprospects to obtain results for identifying suitable manage-ment practices/measures like percolation ponds, check dams,soil conservation and waste reclamation.

Acknowledgements The senior author wishes to express hisgratitude to the then Vice Chancellor of AMU, Mr. P.K Abdul Aziz,for providing financial assistance to develop requisite remote sensingand GIS infrastructure in the Department of Geology, AMU, Aligarh.The authors wish to thank Prof. Shadab Khursheed, Chairman,Department of Geology, AMU, Aligarh for his encouragement andsupport. Thanks are also due to Imran Khan for fruitful discussionsand help during the field work. Constructive comments and valuablesuggestions from the anonymous reviewer are duly acknowledged.

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