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TMK
ARPIŃSKI
PUBLISHER
Journal of Biology
and Earth Sciences
ISSN: 2084-3577
Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences 2015; 5 (1): 68-73
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Morpho metric analysis and hydrogeom orphol ogical
implication o f Paisuni river basin Chi tra koo t,
Madhya Pradesh , India
Pushpendra Singh Rajpoot
1
*, Ajay Kumar
1
, Sandeep Goyal
2
, R. K. Trivedi
3
1
Research Scholar, Department of Physical Sciences, Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwavidyalaya,
Chitrakoot, M.P. (485334), India
2
MPRA Division, Madhya Pradesh Council of Science and Technology, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, (462003), India
3
Applied Geology, Dr. Hari Singh Gour Vishwavidyalaya, Sagar, M.P. (470003), India
* Corresponding Author: E-mail: prajpoot179@gmail.com
Received: 30 December 2014; Revised submission: 25 February 2015; Accepted: 02 March 2015
Copyright: © The Author(s) 2015. Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences © 2015 Tomasz M. Karpiński.
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License,
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work
is properly cited.
www.journals.tmkarpinski.com/index.php/jbes
ABSTRACT
The term morphometry is used in several disciplines to mean the measurement and analysis of form
characteristics. This study incorporates morphometric linear, aerial and relief aspect of fluvial characteristics
of Paisuni river basin. Paisuni river basin covers 571.44 sq km area. Entire drainage network is spread over
Sandstones, Limestone and Alluvium with undulating topography. Paisuni river has dendritic drainage
pattern. Bifurcation ratio is above 3 which indicate that basin has undulating topography. Mean bifurcation
ratio is 3.59 which shows that basin is highly structurally distorted. Relief ratio is 8.8 m/km which shows
moderate to high relief of basin. Drainage density & frequency are more and drainage texture is fine which
shows that basin is impermeable and having low ground water recharging characters with sparse vegetation.
Form factor and circulatory ratio indicates basin shape is elongated. Longitudinal profile shows that basin
has high relief in first order drainages and as drainage order increases, relief decreases and finally converts
into flat basin at the outlet. Present study is useful to identify the sites for artificial recharging structures to
reduce the surface runoff.
Key words: Morphometry; Hydrogeomorphology; Dendritic; Paisuni River.
INTRODUCTION
River basin morphometric elements provide
the valuable information for groundwater potential,
runoff and geographic characteristics of the drain-
age basin. The various morphometric properties
depend on various aspects like geology, geomor-
phology, vegetation and climate etc.
Morphometry incorporates quantitative study
of the area such as altitude, volume, slope, profile
of the land and drainage characteristics [1-3]. It
measures and mathematically analyzes the confi-
guration of the earth's surface and the shape and
dimension of its landform [1]. Quantitative charac-
teristic of basin morphometry describes the charac-
terization of linear and areal features, gradient of
channel network and contributing ground slopes of
the drainage. Drainage provides the fundamental
principle to understand the initial slope, inequa-
lities in rock hardness, structural control, geolo-
69
| Rajpoot et al. Morphometric analysis and hydrogeomorphological implication of Paisuni river basin, India
Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences 2015; 5 (1): 68-73
gical and geomorphological history. The morpho-
metric characteristics of various basins have been
studied by many scientists using conventional
[4-6] and remote sensing and GIS methods
[1, 7-13]. Morphological characteristics such as
drainage order, drainage density, channel slope,
relief, length of overland flow, drainage frequency
and other morphological aspects of watershed are
important to understand the artificial recharging
sites and detail hydrology [14].
2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
Study Area
Paisuni (Mandakini), a holly river of India
and its basin falls in between 80° 38' 29"E to 80°
57' 14"E longitude and 24° 50' 51"N to 25° 11'
16"N latitude and covers 571.44 sq km area of MP
(Map I). Paisuni River is a perennial river and
originates from the central part of Satna district
and flows from south west to north east direction
and finally joins Yamuna River near Rajpur district
UP.
Topographically study area is hilly in
southern part and northern part is undulating to
plain. Big ravines have area around the both side of
Paisuni river channel. Lithologically sandstone,
limestone and conglomerate are the main rock
types exposed in the area and sandy alluvium [15].
Average annual rainfall of this area is 780 mm.
Summer is very hot and maximum temperature
rises up to 47
0
C in May. Winter is very cool and
minimum temperature goes to 2
0
C in January.
For basin morphometric analysis and hydro-
geomorphological implication digital elevation
model and toposheets (63 C/16, 63 D/9 & 63 D/13)
are used. Drainage network is prepared by topo-
sheets and digital elevation model by ASTER data
using geospatial technology.
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Paisuni River basin is divided into many
sub-basins and detailed quantitative analysis of
drainage has been done. Detailed morphometric
characteristics of Paisuni River basin as linear,
areal and relief aspect, is given in the Table 1
to 5, Map 1 and Figs. 1 and 2.
Linear Aspects
In the point of linear aspects we measure
some parameters as drainage order and drainage
length, mean drainage length, drainage length ratio
and bifurcation ratio. The primary step in any
drainage basin analysis is order designation,
drainage orders and it is based on ranking of
drainages [6]. It is noticed that there is a decrease
in drainage frequency as the drainage order
increases. The drainage length (Lu) has been
computed based on the Horton law [16]. Total
length of drainage segments is maximum in first
order drainages and decreases as the drainage order
increases. Mean drainage length is 0.653, 0.694,
1.525, 2.455, 3.378 and 16.082 for different order
1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 respectively.
Drainage length ratio is the ratio between
mean lengths of drainages of any two successive
orders in the basin [4]. Study shows variation in
drainage length ratio between different drainages
order i.e. 0.941, 0.455, 0.621, 0.727 and 0.21 for
successive order. The lower values of Bifurcation
ratio (Rb) are characteristics of the watersheds
which have suffered less structural disturbances [6]
and drainage pattern has not been distorted [17].
Bifurcation ratio for different order is 3.14, 3.27,
3.22, 7 and 1.34 for successive orders. The mean
bifurcation ratio is 3.59 for Paisuni River basin
indicates structurally controlled basin (Table 1)
[6]. Relief ratio value (Rh) is 8.8 m/km for Paisuni
River basin. High values of Rh indicate steep slope
and high relief [17].
Areal Aspects
For aerial aspect, different morphometric
parameters like drainage density, texture ratio,
drainage frequency, form factor, circularity ratio,
elongation ratio and length of overland flow are
analyzed. Drainage density (1.88 Km
-1
) is low in
Paisuni River basin. The form factor is 0.320,
found in Paisuni River basin which indicates less
elongated [18]. Circulatory ratio (Rc) is 0.347 and
drainage frequency (Fs) is 0.094 found in Paisuni
River basin. It is observed that there is maximum
frequency in first order drainage and inversely
proportional to the drainage order. Drainage
texture is 9.176 km
-1
indicates very fine texture [5].
Drainage density of study area indicates moderate
to high runoff and moderate to high impermeabi-
70
| Rajpoot et al. Morphometric analysis and hydrogeomorphological implication of Paisuni river basin, India
Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences 2015; 5 (1): 68-73
lity [19]. The elongation ratio of Paisuni River
basin is 0.641 indicates elongated basin with
moderate to high relief (Table 2) [19]. From table
3, it can be seen that lengths of overland flow of
Paisuni River basin is 0.265 that indicates lesser
infiltration of water which may be due to the
presence of compact sandstone and limestone in
the area [20, 21].
Table 1. Mean drainage length, Drainage length ratio, Bifurcation ratio and Mean bifurcation ratio of Paisuni river
basin.
Sl
No Drainage
Order (U)
Total no
of drainage
(Nu)
Total length
of drainages
(km) (Lu)
Mean
Drainage
length (Lū)
Drainage
length
ratio
Bifurcation
ratio (RL)
Mean
bifurcation
ratio
1. 1 923 603.01 0.653
2. 2 294 204.00 0.694 0.941 3.14
3. 3 90 137.26 1.525 0.455 3.27
4. 4 28 68.74 2.455 0.621 3.22 3.59
5. 5 4 13.51 3.378 0.727 7
6. 6 1 48.25 48.245 0.21 1.34
∑Nu= 1340 ∑Lu= 074.77
Table 2. Drainage density, drainage frequency and drainage texture of Paisuni River basin.
Sl No Drainage
Order (U) Total no of
drainage (Nu)
Total length
of drainages
(km) (Lu)
Basin Area
(Au)
Drainage
density
Km
-1
(Dd)
Stram
frequency
Km
-2
(Fs)
Drainage
Texture
Km
-1
(Rt)
1 1 923 603.01
571.44 1.88 2.348 9.176
2 2 294 204.00
3 3 90 137.26
4 4 28 68.74
5 5 4 13.51
6 6 1 48.25
Total ∑Nu= 1340 ∑Lu= 1074.77
Table 3. Elongation ratio, Form factor, Circulatory ratio and Length of over land flow of Paisuni River basin.
Basin
Perimeter
Basin
length
(Lb)
Total
length of
drainages
(km) (Lu)
Basin
Area
sqkm
(Au)
Elongation ratio
Re=2{√(Au/π)}/Lb
Form factor
Rf=Au/Lb
2
Circulatory
ratio
Rc=4πAu/p2
Length of
Overland Flow
Lg=1/2.Au/ΣLu
146.25 ∑Nu
=1342
∑Lu
=1074.77 571.44 0.641 0.32 0.3361 0.265
Table 4. Channel gradient, Relief ratio and Ruggedness number of Paisuni River basin.
Elevation of
highest point on
Basin Perimeter (m)
Elevation of
lowest point
at
the mouth (m)
Maximum
Basin Relief
(H) (m)
Maximum
Basin Length
(Lb) (km)
Channel
Gradient
(m/km)
Relief
Ratio
(Rh)
Ruggedness
Number
(HD)
483 111 372 42 8.857 0.0088 0.699
Table 5. Hypsometric data of Paisuni River basin.
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| Rajpoot et al. Morphometric analysis and hydrogeomorphological implication of Paisuni river basin, India
Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences 2015; 5 (1): 68-73
Paisuni River Basin
Hieght (h) meters h/H Area (a) sq km a/A
450 0.93 4.93 0.023
400 0.83 65.94 0.101
350 0.72 139.88 0.258
300 0.62 214.01 0.632
250 0.52 90.03 0.876
200 0.41 44.68 0.991
150 0.31 13.23 1
Relief aspects
The channel gradient is estimated from the
contour crossings in the topographical sheet. The
overall channel gradient of Paisuni River basin is
8.857 m/km. The Paisuni River basin displays the
ruggedness number as 0.694, it indicate, the area is
rugged with high relief and low drainage density
(Table 4) [19]. Strahler identified three types of
landforms, namely, young, mature and monadnock
on the basis of hypsometric curve shape. The value
of relative area (a/A) always varies from 1.0 at the
lowest point in the basin (h/H=0.0) to 0.0 at the
highest point in the basin (h/H=1.0) (Table 5).
Fig. 1. Hypsometric profile of Paisuni river basin.
Fig. 2. Longitudinal profile of Paisuni river basin.
Hypsometric curve is showing that younger land-
form is existing into high relief with lower
drainage order. Mature landform is at foot hill
with moderate to low relief and older at flat basin
(Fig. 1) [22].
Map 1. Location map of study area.
The longitudinal profile is a graph of distan-
ce verses elevation. The construction of longitu-
dinal profile provides an interpretation of the
surface history as they are the erosional curves and
the river course flows from the source to mouth at
any stage of evolution [23]. Profile shows that
highest and lowest point of basin is 483 and 150 m.
Between 400 to 350 m, basin is very steep which
spread over 2 km length. Between 350 to 300 m,
72
| Rajpoot et al. Morphometric analysis and hydrogeomorphological implication of Paisuni river basin, India
Journal of Biology and Earth Sciences 2015; 5 (1): 68-73
basin is about to moderate sloping to plain which
spread over 14 km length. Between 300 to 250 m,
basin is strongly sloping which spread over 8 km
length. Between 250 to 200 m, basin is again
moderate steep which spread over 3.5 km length
and rest of basin between 200 to 150 m, is gently
sloping and spread over 14 km length (Fig. 2).
4. CONCLUSION
The present study deals that Paisuni River
basin has dendritic drainage pattern. Morphometric
analysis shows that basin is structurally distorted
with undulating topography mountainous relief.
The runoff is moderate to high. Paisuni River basin
is an elongated basin and impermeable for ground
water recharging. Hypsometric curve shows that
younger landforms are formed on high relief area
with lower drainage order. Mature landform is at
foot hill with moderate to low relief and older at
flat basin. Longitudinal profile shows inverse
relation between relief and drainage order and
finally converts into flat basin at the outlet of
basin.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The authors would like to say thank to the
Mahatma Gandhi Chitrakoot Gramodaya Vishwa-
vidyalaya, Chitrakoot, M.P. India for facilities
and also thankful to Dr. Ravindra Singh, Associate
Prof. for their technical and logistic supports
during my research.
AUTHORS’ CONTRIBUTION
All authors contibuted equally to this work, read
and approved the final manuscript.
TRANSPARENCY DECLARATION
Authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.
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