Morphometric analysis of Agadgaon watershed using remote sensing and geographic information system

Abstract

Morphometry means measurement of earth features. This is important factor for planning any watershed development programmme. RS and GIS technique is used to estimate the geomorphological characteristics of watershed. The area selected for the study is Agadgaon watershed in tehsil and district Ahmednagar of Maharashtra state. The area of watershed under study is 392 ha. The main watershed comprises of two sub-watersheds viz. W1 (296 ha) and W2 (96 ha). The Geomorphological characteristics of the watershed were extracted from DEM which was downloaded from United States Geological Survey’s (USGS) official website, using RS data and GIS software, ArcGIS 10.2. The morphometric parameters considered for analysis include the linear, areal and relief aspects. It is third-order drainage watershed. The mean bifurcation ratio for W1 was 4 and 2.45 for W2 which shows that the basin was largely controlled by structures. Also both sub watersheds are elongated. The watershed is having high drainage density leads to fine drainage texture and indicates that the catchment area is more prone to flooding. Low values of relative relief indicate that peak discharge rates are likely to be low and low erosion from the catchment. Similarly, all morphometric parameters were calculated for both watersheds.