Morphometric Analysis of Suswa River Basin Using Geospatial Techniques

Abstract

Analysing the morphological features of the drainage basin helps to understand its hydrological characteristics and the association of water, with soil, topography, and vegetation of the catchment. Morphometric analysis reveals the linear, areal, and relief aspects of a drainage basin. In this study, morphometric analysis has been performed using geospatial techniques to evaluate the hydrological characteristics of the Suswa River basin. The SRTM (Shutter Radar Topography Mission) DEM at 30 m resolution has been used to delineate the basin and drainage network in the Arc GIS Software with the help of Spatial Analysis Tools. From this research, we have derived that the basin is having sub-dendritic to dendritic drainage pattern, and the average drainage density of the basin is 2.84 km/km2. The elongation ratio of the Suswa River basin is 0.46 which implies that the basin is elongated in shape with moderate relief. This study concludes that morphometric analysis based on GIS & remote sensing techniques is a competent tool for hydrological studies. The present study would be beneficial to various managers and decision-makers for the organization working on watershed management and sustainable natural resources management.

Keywords

• morphometric analysis
• GIS
• remote sensing
• DEM
• watershed management