A GIS-based Approach for Morphometric Analysis of Jamini Basin and Its Subwatersheds: Implication for Conservation of Soil and Water Resources

Jamini a tributary of Betwa River has Jamrar, Onri, Sajnam, Shanzad and Baragl five subwatersheds. The quantitative morphometric analysis of its subwatersheds was carried out by using advanced techniques of remote sensing and GIS. The linear, areal and relief parameters along with hypsometric values were generated for each subwatershed of Jamini basin. The remotely sensed Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) Digital Elevation Model (DEM) data with a capture resolution of 3.0 arc second and pixel resolution of 30 m were used to extract the drainage map, density, contour, aspect and other maps. The mean bifurcation ratio (3.79 to 5.04) of Jamini and its all subwatersheds indicate that the drainage is structurally controlled. The Rho coefficient values reveal that the higher hydrologic storage during the flood and a decrease in the erosion during elevated discharge are observed in the basin. The drainage density (1.0 to 1.04) indicates that the basin is impermeable and shows low groundwater storage capacity in hard rock granitic terrain. The form factor (0.18 to 0.49), elongation and circulatory ratios indicate that the Jamini basin and subwatersheds are significantly elongated and show low peak flow of longer duration. The values of Ruggedness and Melton ruggedness number infer that the basin is slightly rugged and less prone to erosion and sediment transport. The S-shaped hypsometric curves show that the basin is susceptible to moderate erosion and the hypsometric index values (0.49 to 0.50) imply that the basin has mature geomorphic terrain with moderately eroded landscapes.