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International Journal of
Remote Sensing
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Integrated remote
sensing and GIS for
groundwater exploration
and identification of
artificial recharge sites
A. K. Saraf & P. R. Choudhury Version of record first published: 25 Nov 2010.
To cite this article: A. K. Saraf & P. R. Choudhury (1998): Integrated remote sensing and GIS for groundwater exploration and identification of artificial recharge sites, International Journal of Remote Sensing, 19:10, 1825-
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1826 A. K. Saraf and P. R. Choudhury
utilized over conventional methods of hydrogeological surveys. Digital enhancement of satellite data results in extraction of maximum information and an increased interpretability. GIS techniques facilitate integrated and conjunctive analysis of large volumes of multi-disciplinary data, both spatial and non-spatial, within the same georeferencing scheme. Thus, by integrating these two spatial data management technologies, groundwater development strategies for a hard rock area can be designed. The present study demonstrates the capabilities of IRS-LISS-II (Linear Imaging Self-scanning Sensor) in groundwater exploration and for preparing hydrogeomor- phological maps (Sahai et al. 1991, Krishnamurthy and Srinivas 1995). IRS-LISS-II operates in the visible-NIR spectral range of the electromagnetic spectrum and has a spatial resolution of 36´25 m ( table 1). It gives repetitive coverage on a cycle of 22 days ( IRS-Data Users Handbook 1989). The objective of the present study has two main components. The ® rst is the identi® cation of reservoir induced groundwater recharge in hard rock areas using IRS-LISS-II data. The second aspect is to suggest suitable locations for surface water reservoirs/basins to augment groundwater recharge where the groundwater conditions are poor.
2. The study area The study area has been chosen as it represents a typical hard rock area, comprising mostly Deccan Trap basic volcanic rocks. It is situated in a part of Vidisha district of Madhya Pradesh state, India, bounded by longitudes 77 ß 38 ¾ E and 77 ß 55 ¾ E and latitudes 24ß 00 ¾ N and 24 ß 15 ¾ N (® gure 1). The major rivers draining the 740 km^2 area are the Kethan and the Naren, which are tributaries of the Betwa river. The sur® cial geology of the area consists of Deccan basalt which is weathered over all but a narrow N± S strip in the western margin of the area (® gure 2). Bundelkhand Granite which forms the basement of the area (CGWB, 1984) was overlain by Vindhyan sediments during Cambrian time. Neither granite nor Vindhyans are exposed in the area today. After the end of Vindhyan sedimentation, a thick series of successive lava ¯ ows were erupted covering the whole area. The
Table 1. Spectral range and application of IRS-LISS-II.
Spectral range Band ( m m) Applications
1 0´45± 0´52 (a) Coastal environmental studies ( b) Soil/vegetation di erentiation (c) Coniferous/deciduous vegetation di erentiation 2 0´52± 0´59 (a) Vegetation vigour ( b) Rock/soil discrimination (c) Turbidity and bathymetry in shallow waters 3 0´62± 0´68 (a) Strong chlorophyll absorption leading to discrimination of plant species 4 0´77± 0´86 (a) Delineation of water features ( b) Landform/geomorphic studies
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Integrated remote sensing and GIS in groundwater 1827
Figure 1.
Location map of the study area showing part of the Kethan and the Naren river basins, drainage network and locations of various reservoirs.
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Integrated remote sensing and GIS in groundwater 1829
depth of yellow clay and black cotton soil varies from 3± 10 metres. As in other basaltic terrains, there is a multi-aquifer system, the present zone of weathering being the most productive water bearing horizon, which is a shallow aquifer. It is poorly developed over the hilly areas whereas in the valleys, it is up to 20 metres in thickness. Groundwater usually occurs under uncon® ned conditions but locally it may be semi- con® ned to con® ned due to presence of clay overlying jointed basalt (CGWB 1984). The deeper aquifers are beyond the range of present day weathering. The area is fed by south-west monsoon rainfall which starts sometime in July and extends until the end of September. The average annual rainfall is about 1040 mm.
3. Data used Three types of data sets have been used in the present study: ( a ) Remotely-sensed data, viz. IRS-LISS-II digital data of 27 February 1995. Date of acquisition of remotely-sensed data has been so chosen as this is the peak time of growth of winter crops ( Rabi) and dry season vegetation is an indicator of groundwater. It also facilitates better discrimination of lithologic characters than post-monsoon data. ( b ) Existing maps, viz. Survey of India (SOI) Toposheets at 1 5 50 000 scale, published geological map. ( c ) Field data, viz. depth to water level data of 18 dug wells (CGWB 1980), of which six are situated within the study area. Pre- and post-monsoon data for three years consecutively from 1976 to 1978 are used to determine the nature of movement of groundwater in the area. 4. M ethodology The methodology adopted in the present study consists of four parts as explained schematically in ® gure 3. ( a ) In the ® rst step, all the data have been converted to digital format, by digitization of existing maps and well locations. Remote sensing data are already in digital format. ( b ) The second step involves generation of thematic layers of information from di erent sources. It involves digital image processing of remote sensing data and further processing of existing maps and ®eld data for extraction of pertinent information.
Various standard digital image processing techniques have been applied to LISS-II data to enhance and extract information on geology, geomorphology, land use, structural features and vegetation cover ( Jensen 1986, Drury 1987). Contrast stretching of individual bands is e ective in improving interpretability of di erent features. This is further enhanced by generating False Colour Composite ( FCC) from bands-4,-3,-2 coded in red, green and blue colour scheme which highlights the geomorphological features, land use, vegetation cover and soil types (® gure 4). Principal component analysis ( PCA) on four bands has been performed to reproject highly correlated LISS-II data into statistically independent orthogonal axes and PCA images are generated. FCC of principal component images highlights landform, water bodies and geology. Lineament and structural features are visually interpreted (® gure 5) from directional ® ltered products of contrast stretched band 4 and also the ® rst principal component image which accounts for the maximum spectral
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1830 A. K. Saraf and P. R. Choudhury
Figure 3. Flow chart showing data ¯ ow and di erent GIS analysis operations followed in the present study.
variance. The normalized di erence vegetation index ( NDVI) image has been generated to map the abundance or absence of vegetation cover. An elevation contour map has been digitized from SOI Toposheets at 20 m contour intervals and linear interpolation of these data has led to the generation of a digital elevation model (DEM ). The point locations of 18 wells have been digitized and water table data have been interpolated using the Krigging method. Linear interpolation of water table contour map has led to the generation of the ground- water surface.
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1832 A. K. Saraf and P. R. Choudhury
Figure 5. Lineament map of the study area based on IRS-LISS-II data analysis and ® eld information. Rose diagram (Inset) shows the general trend of the lineaments present in the study area.
output phenomenon and is mostly guided by human judgement. On the basis of relative importance, a set of weights have been decided for di erent information layers and the best suitable condition is derived.
5. Analysis and discussion 5.1. Generation of thematic layers 5.1.1. Geology As described earlier, the area depicts a monotonous lithology of basalt and its weathered products. It can be identi® ed on standard FCC of bands 4, 3, 2 in shades of green (® gure 4). Fresh basalt exposures are seen as light green, occupying the high lands in the western margin of the area. Yellow clay developed due to extensive weathering of Deccan basalt. It can be identi® ed by its high DN values in band 3 in contrast to healthy vegetation (® gure 11). It is seen as dark green patches, usually over elevated land.
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Integrated remote sensing and GIS in groundwater 1833
5.1.2. Geomorpholo gy Visual interpretation of digitally enhanced images enables identi® cation of the following geomorphological features, ( a ) residual/denudational hills, ( b ) pediment, ( c ) alluvial plains, and ( d ) valley ® lls. Basalt, being rich in ma® c minerals, is prone to weathering. However, hard and compact basalt can withstand the e ects of weathering and erosion to give rise to residual hills, occupying the higher grounds. These are present as plateaus or mesas along the western margin of the area (® gure 4). In places, these are incised by streams to form steep cli s. Small residual hills are also present in the valley plain, seen as scattered dark green patches on the FCC and these represent the remnant parts of basalt ¯ ows. Less resistant and fractured parts of the basalt give way to weathering, resulting in the formation pediments. Alluvial plains are developed along the banks of the Kethan and the Naren rivers. They usually show shades of green but also display red colours due to vegetation growth. Valley ® lls are developed where there is deposition of alluvial material over the valley, which are identi® ed by characteristic bright spectral signatures. These are seen along the streams, mostly in shades of red as they support luxuriant growth of vegetation. Wherever devoid of vegetation, these are seen as white patches.
5.1.3. L ineaments Lineament analysis for groundwater exploration in basaltic terrain has consider- able importance as joints and fractures serve as conduits for movement of ground- water. It is not practical to map lineaments solely on the basis of satellite data, without a thorough knowledge of the structural conditions in an area, as the interpretation may be subjective and may include many artifacts. For extraction of lineaments, the procedure of Moore and Waltz ( 1986 ) has been followed. In this study, lineaments derived from satellite data have been carefully matched with previously mapped structural features and a good degree of correlation between the two has been found (® gure 5). There are four prominent azimuth directions ( a ) NE± SW, ( b ) NW± SE, ( c ) ENE± WSW, and ( d ) NNE± SSW.
5.1.4. T opography Topographic information has been collected from SOI toposheets at 1 5 50 000 scale and a digital elevation model ( DEM ) has been generated from elevation contours at 20 m intervals using a linear interpolation method (® gure 6). Most of the area shows more or less ¯ at topography excepting a few hills or plateaus in the western part. The maximum and minimum elevations are 540 m and 414 m respect- ively. A three-dimensional perspective model of the study area has been prepared using DEM and FCC to understand the role of surface reservoirs and their topo- graphic locations in controlling groundwater conditions ( ® gure 7). Calculating the local ® rst derivative from digital elevation data, a slope map has been prepared and di erent slope classes are expressed in percentages. Nearly 80 per cent of the total area shows 0± 1 per cent slope. Only the bounding cli s of basalt hills have steep slopes.
5.1.5. Grou ndwater recharge Depth to water level data of pre- and post-monsoon dates are available for few locations only around the study area which provide insu cient information about groundwater conditions. Moreover, spatial analysis in GIS needs pixel-by-pixel information. In order to generate a water table map, the average depth to water level data of pre- and post-monsoon dates for three years ( 1976 to 1978) have been
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Integrated remote sensing and GIS in groundwater 1835
Figure 7. Three-dimensional perspective view of the study area. IRS-LISS-II FCC (as shown in ® gure 4 ) has been draped on DEM of the study area. The location of the Sironj reservoir ( light blue coloured ) on higher ground provides better groundwater recharge conditions, because of a greater hydraulic gradient than of the Naren reservoir. Though the size and extent (i.e., capacity) of the Sironj reservoir is less than that of the Naren reservoir, the extent of reservoir induced recharge area is greater. It suggests that future reservoir sites should be located at higher grounds (as shown in ® gures 10 ( a ) and ( b )) in order to fully exploit the available hydraulic gradient and better reservoir induced groundwater recharge conditions.
the major source of recharge in this area, groundwater recharge image (® gure 8 ) has been prepared by multiplying the water level ¯ uctuation image by the speci® c yield of di erent formations (Saraf and Jain 1994 ). Values of speci® c yield for weathered ( 3´0) and unweathered basalt ( 2´0) for the area have been taken from Karanth ( 1987 ). This grey scale image displays the spatial distribution of groundwater recharge in the study area, the darker tones indicating poor recharge zones and the brighter tones showing high recharge zones. 5.1.6. L anduse Few landuse classes can be identi® ed in the present area on FCC 432 ( RGB). The basalt hills in the western part support open forest. Agricultural lands are developed downstream of the reservoirs and along the valley ® lls. Most of the land is used for Rabi (winter) crops and only a small area is used for Kharif (monsoon) crops. As a result, most of the area lies fallow during summer. Consequently, land use classes have not been used in the present study. 5.1.7. Drainage A surface drainage map has been prepared from SOI toposheets at 1 5 50 000 scale. The northern as well as central part of the study area is drained by the Kethan river and its tributaries, whereas the Naren river drains the southern part (® gures 1 and 6). The drainage pattern is mainly dendritic but locally exhibits structural control.
5.2. Evaluation of groundwater conditions in the area In basaltic terrains, occurrence of groundwater is controlled by primary features such as vesicles and inter-¯ ow contacts and secondary features like fractures and weathered zones. In order to determine the groundwater prospects in the study area, thematic maps generated from remote sensing data have been interfaced with DEM,
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1836 A. K. Saraf and P. R. Choudhury
Figure 8. Recharge zones in the study area. This map is the resultant of the water-table ¯ uctuation map multiplied by the speci® c yield of di erent geological units of the study area. Lighter tones depict higher groundwater recharge conditions, whereas darker tones re¯ ects low recharge zones.
surface drainage and water table map using GIS. The groundwater ¯ ow direction closely follows the direction of river ¯ ow indicating that streams in the area are in¯ uent. It also matches with the prominent direction of lineaments in the area suggesting that the lineaments act as pathways for groundwater movement. Evaluation of groundwater conditions in an area needs information on seasonal water level ¯ uctuations and groundwater recharge. The western hilly area is a zone of poor groundwater recharge, whereas the alluvial plains provide better groundwater recharge conditions. The GIS overlay analysis of the recharge image (® gure 8) and the geological map reveals that weathered basalt provides better groundwater recharge conditions than unweathered basalt and hence has a better prospect for groundwater. Interfacing of the geomorphological map and NDVI image reveals that valley ® lls are the most promising sites for groundwater exploration as expressed by the development of dry season vegetation. Thus, integrated analysis of various data sets in GIS enables de® nition of criteria for groundwater exploration in the study area (table 2) and a groundwater prospective zone map has been generated (® gure 9).
5.3. Identi® cation of reservoir induced arti® cial grou ndwater recharge zones One of the most interesting features of the IRS-LISS-II images of the area is the anomalous vegetation growth downstream of surface water reservoirs. There are two large reservoirs in the area (® gure 1), and a few small ones. The FCC shows that valley ® lls support proli® c vegetation where there is reservoir across the stream whereas vegetation is only sporadic or even totally absent where there is no recharge
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1838 A. K. Saraf and P. R. Choudhury
( a )
( b ) Figure 10. ( a ) Potential zones for future reservoir sites to provide better reservoir induced groundwater recharge conditions. This map is prepared using the slope map derived from DEM (® gure 8 ) together with the geology, geomorphology and groundwater recharge maps (® gure 8 ) and the lineament map (® gure 5 ). ( b ) Three-dimensional view of the map shown in ® gure 10 ( a ), clearly indicates zones for the most suitable/favour- able sites of future reservoirs to provide best groundwater recharge conditions. The legend for this image is same as shown in ® gure 10 ( a ).
movement, whereas, the gradient is much less in the ¯ at areas, near the Naren reservoir. Thus, topography plays a major role. GIS facilitates superimposition of geological and lineament maps over FCC and leads to a better understanding of the
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Integrated remote sensing and GIS in groundwater 1839
Figure 11. Spectral curves for average spectral responses from IRS-1A and 1B and re¯ ectance from vegetation and soil, unscaled vertical axis (after Holz 1984).
factors a ecting arti® cial recharge. All the reservoirs are constructed over weathered and fractured basalt which permits a high intake of water. The moderate permeability of the basalt helps to maintain the required rate of recharge. The vesicular parts of the basalt provide storage space for groundwater. Careful observation reveals that growth of dense vegetation associated with the reservoirs follows the predominant direction of lineaments suggesting that the lineaments provide routeways for the movement of groundwater.
5.4. Selection of suitable sites for arti® cial recharge Recharge ponds and check dams provide a good measure of arti® cial recharge in hard rock terrains by collecting surface run-o and increasing the surface area of in® ltration. Suitability of these structures depends on various factors which can be identi® ed using GIS techniques ( Novaline Jaga et al. 1993). Considering the hydroge- omorphic conditions of the area, weighted indexing has been adopted (table 3) to suggest the ideal locations for arti® cial recharge by basins/ponds using four para- meters namely geology, geomorphology, lineaments and topography. This suitability analysis has been performed purely from a groundwater point of view and does not include geotechnical considerations. ( a ) Geology. The area is geologically very simple as mentioned earlier. Fractured and weathered basalt has been given the highest priority as it provides the necessary permeability and storage space. Massive basalt is not favourable as it is impermeable and cannot provide storage space.
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