A Geographic Information System (GIS) based approach for drainage and morphometric characterization of Beki river basin, India

Abstract

Geographic Information Systems and remote sensing have proved to be effective tools in delineation to find the drainage pattern and different geometric methodologies of geomorphologic watershed management. Even GIS has been widely used in several flood management, and environmental applications. The river Beki with an area of 19,354.35 sq. km2 originates at the Himalayan glacier (Kula Kangri glacier in Bhutan) at 26.18°N latitudes and 90.53°E longitudes and flows through the plains of Assam and finally to the mighty Brahmaputra at 26.48°N latitudes and 91.02°E longitudes have been selected for a detail analysis morphometric parameters. Morphometric parameters via; Stream order, Stream length, Bifurcation ratio, Drainage density, Drainage frequency, Drainage texture, Form factor, Circularity ratio, Elongation ratio, Compactness ratio, etc. were measured for prioritization and compound parameter values were calculated. The local people from this study will be able to utilize the resources in the right manner for a sustainable water resource development of the basin area. Moreover, the study can also be referred to as a benchmark for studies on temporal change in geomorphology resulting from climate change. Various Morphometric analyses explain the physical properties of the watershed, which are important for land use planning, soil conservation, terrain elevation, and soil erosion.