Application of GIS and remote sensing in morphometric analysis of river basin at the south-western part of great Ganges delta, Bangladesh

Abstract

Analysing the morphometric parameters is the most expedient and parsimonious way of representing the hydrologic and physiographic attributes of river basins. The present study attempts to measure the morphometric parameters for assessing the understanding of morphological, hydrological, and physiographic properties of the south-western part of Ganges delta. Parameters were analysed from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission's (SRTM) maps and total of eight linear, six areal, eight relief, and five drainage texture parameters have taken with hypsometric analysis for the four major rivers and two tributary river basins. The values of linear parameter denote that most of the streams (82%) fall in first order, and other orders have homogeneous underline materials. The aerial parameters represent low peak discharge and the upper region is less vulnerable to flood. The relief parameter values show that the entire basin has low surface runoff and they are less erosional (slope < 3.97°). The drainage density indicates the coarser nature and circularity ratio (0.08) represents the elongated shape. The southern portion of the basin has a greater flood potential and hypsometric index (0.49) shows the entire basin is in mature stage of formation. These results would be helpful for reckoning the watersheds for drainage management and environmental planning for ecological management and sustainable development.

Morphometric analysis of Halda River basin, Bangladesh, using GIS and remote sensing techniques

“…Lemniscate's of the basin is measured following the equation of Chorley et al (1957) [ 110 ] and the value of the basin is 2.52. The value of Lemnisctae's indicates higher inception occurs in the areas of lower stream order [ 10 ]. The ratio between basin length and width is 1.63.…”

“…The ratio between basin length and width is 1.63. Lemnisctae's ratio, basin length and width indicate that the lower order streams with shorter distances carry the sign of circularity whereas the longer order streams produce the elongated nature of the drainage basin [ 10 , 53 , 111 , 112 ].…”

“…Morphometric analysis of drainage basin indicates the mathematical and geometrical analysis of land surface characteristics such as configuration, shape and dimension [ 1 , 2 ]. Morphometric analysis is successfully carried out by measuring the linear, relief, aerial, and geometric properties of the drainage basin [ [3] , [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] ].…”

“…Basin area, basin length, stream network and order, length of streams and elevation of different locations in the drainage basin are the basic parameters measured through geospatial and hydrological analysis in the GIS environment [ 5 , [51] , [52] , [53] ]. Morphometric analysis of drainage basins has been conducted extensively by extracting morphometric parameters from SRTM-DEM using GIS software for different environmental, geologic, climatic and hydrologic settings across the world [ [4] , [5] , [6] , [7] , [8] , [9] , [10] , 19 , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] ]. However, the specific application of morphometric parameters measures the relationship with other factors or events such as neotectonic or geologic evolution, hydrological flow assessment, hazard investigation etc.…”

“…[ 4 , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] ], which largely limits the in-depth understanding of geomorphometric, hydrologic and environmental characteristics of the drainage basin [ 58 , 64 ]. Although understanding the morphometric characteristics of drainage basins cut significant importance, there is a limited study that has been conducted in Bangladesh [ 10 , 65 , 66 ].…”