Quantitative geomorphological analysis & land use/ land cover change detection of two sub-watersheds in ne region of Punjab, India

Abstract

Morphometric analysis is the measurement and mathematical analysis of the landforms. The delineation of drainage system is of utmost importance in understanding hydrological system of an area, water resource management and it's planning in an effective manner. Morphometric analysis and land use change detection of two sub-watersheds namely Kukar Suha and Ratewal of district Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar, Punjab, India was carried out for quantitative description of drainage and characterisation. The stream order, stream number, stream length, mean stream length, and other morphometric analysis like bifurcation ratio, drainage density, texture, relief ratio, ruggedness number etc. were measured. The drainage pattern of Kukar Suha and Ratewal is mainly dendritic. The agriculture and settlements came up along the drainage network causes the pattern disturbance in the watershed. The study was undertaken to spotlight the morphometric parameters, their impact on the basin and the land use land cover changes occurred over the period of time. Morphometric parameters such as linear aspect, areal aspect and relief aspect of the watershed are computed. The land use/land cover change was extracted from LISS IV Mx + Cartosat1 PAN data. ASTER data is used to prepare DEM (digital elevation model) and geographical information system (GIS) was used to evaluate various morphometric parameters in ArcGIS10 software.