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Geospatial modelling for sub-watershed prioritization in Western Himalayan Basin using morphometric parameters

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Abstract

Geographical information system and remote sensing are proven to be an efficient tool for locating water harvesting and recharge structures, groundwater potential, runoff, watershed prioritization through morphometric analysis. The management and conservation of watershed require scientific evaluation so that appropriate strategies can be implemented by the policymakers and stakeholders. This study evaluates the Parvati River Basin for prioritization of sub-watershed. We use analytical hierarchical approach with pairwise comparison matrix for ranking the parameters which has been derived through morphometric analysis of the watersheds. The linear (stream order, stream length, mean, stream length, stream length ratio, bifurcation ratio, rho coefficient), relief (basin relief, relief ratio, ruggedness number) and areal morphometric parameters (drainage density, stream frequency, texture ratio, form factor, circulatory ratio, elongation ratio, length of overland flow, constant channel maintenance) have been used for prioritization of watershed in the Basin. The results revealed that the basin comprises of complex topography with mountainous and hilly relief structures which results into high run-off. The prioritization of sub-watershed suggests that the largest watershed comprising of 36.09% total watershed area falls into medium category for water potential. The total area under very high to high category is 5.36% and 8.44% respectively. The relationship between morphometric parameter and watershed prioritization shows that the sub-watersheds SW1 and SW8 falls under very high to high category having high water holding capacity.

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Availability of data and material

There are no linked research data sets for this submission. The data is freely available at http://gdem.ersdac.jspacesystems.or.jp/

Code availability

ArcGIS 10.2 software has been used in this manuscript.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) for providing freely available Digital Elevation Dataset, used in this manuscript. The authors are thankful to Geoinformatics laboratory, TERI School of Advanced Studies for providing access to Arc GIS 10.2 software.

Funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University for funding this work under grant number (RGP2/194/42).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Data Science and Engineering, Quantela Inc, Hyderabad, 500081, India

    Vikash Shivhare

  2. Interdisciplinary Centre for Water Research, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, 560012, India

    Chanchal Gupta

  3. Department of Civil Engineering, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia

    Javed Mallick

  4. Department of Energy and Environment, TERI School of Advanced Studies, 10 Institutional Area, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi, 110 070, India

    Chander Kumar Singh

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  1. Vikash Shivhare
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The authors VS, CG and CKS conceptualized the work. Formal analysis was conducted by VS, CG, JM and supervised by CKS. Draft writing was done by VS and proofread and finalized by VS, CG, JM and CKS.

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Correspondence to Chander Kumar Singh.

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Shivhare, V., Gupta, C., Mallick, J. et al. Geospatial modelling for sub-watershed prioritization in Western Himalayan Basin using morphometric parameters. Nat Hazards 110, 545–561 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-021-04957-6

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