A GIS-Based Morphometric and Morphotectonic Analysis of Johilla River Basin, Central India

The findings of morphometric and morphotectonic analysis of the Johilla watershed of central India are presented in this chapter. Johilla is debouching to the Son River near Annupur district in Madhya Pradesh, India and is forming an important network of the Ganga basin along with other tributaries in the eastern India. The GIS technique and SRTM data were used to extract the digital elevation model (DEM) and other thematic maps for the evaluation of linear, areal, and relief parameters. The six orders of streams were validated in the Johilla river basin. The watershed, flow direction, flow accumulation, flow length, and stream orders were extracted using ArcGIS. While the contour, slope, and aspect, was prepared by using the surface tool present in ArcGIS software and SRTM (DEM). About 48 morphometric (linear, areal, and relief aspects) parameters were computed. The structural and tectonic control on the basin is represented by high value of bifurcation ratio (Rb = 3–11.66). The infiltration number (0.92) computed for the Johilla river basin is indicative of high percolation and very low runoff of water with low erosion intensity. The NE-SW, NW-SE, E-W, NNW-SSE trending major lineaments representing the orientations of joints, fractures, fault scarp ridge and other features were identified in the study area. The NE-SW and NW-SE oriented high-order (5th and 6th order) streams were controlled by NE-SW and NW-SE trending lineaments. The variable orientations (NNE-SSW, NNW-SSE, NE-SW, and NW-SE) of low-order streams (1st, 2nd, and 3rd) trending parallel to the lineaments are controlled by tectonic features of the study area.