A Geospatial Morphometric Analysis of Kulbera and Daurighara River Basins in Western Part of Purulia District of West Bengal, India

Abstract

Morphometric analysis is used to understand the hydrological process and assessment of hydrological characteristics of surface water basin. In the present paper, an attempt has been made to study the detail morphometric characteristics of Kulbera and Daurighara river basin, which are tributaries of Subarnarekha River in Purulia district, West Bengal. For detailed study, SRTM data has been used for preparing digital elevation model (DEM), and Geographic Information System (GIS) has been used for the analysis of linear, areal, and relief aspects of the basins. Watershed boundary, flow accumulation, flow length, stream ordering have been prepared by using ILWIS 3.0. Different thematic maps i.e. elevation, geology, drainage density, slope and longitudinal profiles of river channels have been prepared by using QGIS 3.0 and MapInfo 10.0 GIS software. More than 58 morphometric parameters of all aspects of the basins have been computed. On the basis of morphometric analysis it has been argued that the erosional development has progressed well beyond maturity and that the drainage development is controlled by lithology. Besides,it can be concluded that this study will also be very useful for rain water harvesting planning and watershed management.