Morphometric Analysis for Hydrological and Denudational Characterization of Geo-Structurally Controlled Sub-Basins: A Study from Godavari and Pranahita Basins, India

International Journal of Geoinformatics and Geological Science

© 2022 by SSRG - IJGGS Journal

Volume 9 Issue 3

Year of Publication : 2022

Authors : N. Krishna, A. Narsing Rao, P. Durga Devi

10.14445/23939206/IJGGS-V9I3P101

How to Cite?

N. Krishna, A. Narsing Rao, P. Durga Devi, "Morphometric Analysis for Hydrological and Denudational Characterization of Geo-Structurally Controlled Sub-Basins: A Study from Godavari and Pranahita Basins, India," SSRG International Journal of Geoinformatics and Geological Science, vol. 9,  no. 3, pp. 1-9, 2022. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.14445/23939206/IJGGS-V9I3P101

Abstract:

Groundwater formation and flow are regulated by the subsurface lithological features at the sub-basin scale. Prospecting over the diverse geological settings within the watershed scale deters the resolution. The established geophysical methods can enhance precision but significant time, energy, and financial aspects. An attempt is made to prospect the groundwater resources over the basalts and sedimentary formations situated across the three adjacent sub-watersheds. We employed several methods to explore the potential groundwater zones, including geological, geomorphological, hydrogeological, and remote sensing techniques. We emphasized large-scale morphometric analysis using a couple of GIS techniques to understand the structurally controlled geological features in the sub-watersheds of Rallavagu (467.26 km2 ), Peddavagu (470.78 km2 ), Yerravagu (492.78 km2 ) in Godavari and Pranahita basins, Southern India. The investigation of these sub-watersheds found that the overall count and length of first-order streams are higher but decrease with increased stream order. The Rb of distinct orders in the stream fluctuates between 2.00 and 4.86, indicating the geo-structurally controlled nature of the sub-basins. The thematic maps of geological features, geomorphology, topographic slope, and drainage density are appraised quantitatively to decide the weightage factor (WF). Further, the WF has been assigned to generate the groundwater prospect map of different categories on a spatial scale. The study concludes, i) potential groundwater resources (high to very high) are limited to the flood plain area of sandstone formations and correlate well with the geomorphic and structural lineaments, ii) moderate category groundwater resources are dominant in the study area, iii) the basalts being situated moderately dissected hills shows very low groundwater resources, iv) geomorphic lineaments were observed with shallow groundwater (unconfined aquifer) while, structural lineaments indicate deeper groundwater (confined aquifer) resources.

Keywords:

Morphometry, Geo-structural lineaments, Groundwater prospecting, Pranahita-Godavari Basin, Rallavagu.

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