Mapping of groundwater potential zones in Sarabanga Sub–basin, Cauvery River, South India using remote sensing and GIS techniques

C.Boobalan; B.Gurugnanam

Volume : VI, Issue : II, February - 2016

Mapping of groundwater potential zones in Sarabanga Sub–basin, Cauvery River, South India using remote sensing and GIS techniques

C. Boobalan, B. Gurugnanam

Abstract :

This study proposes to introduce the remote sensing and GIS Techniques in the augmentation of groundwater. Remote sensing and GIS techniques are used to map the groundwater potential zones in Sarabanga sub–basin, Cauvery River, Tamil Nadu, India. Fissile hornblende biotite gneiss and Charnockites are the major rock types in this region. Dunites and peridodites are the ultramafic rocks which cut across the foliation planes of the gneisses and are highly weathered. The thickness of weathered zone varies from 2.2 to 50 m in gneissic formation and 5.8 to 55 m in charnockite. At the contacts of gneiss and charnockite, the thickness ranges from 9.0 to 90.8 m favouring good groundwater potential. Therefore it is essential to map the groundwater potential zones for proper management of the aquifer system. Satellite imageries are also used to extract lineaments, hydrogeomorphic landforms, drainage patterns and land use, which are the major controlling factors for the occurrence of groundwater. Various thematic layers pertaining to groundwater existence such as geology, geomorphology, land use / land cover, lineament, lineament density, drainage, drainage density are generated using GIS tools. By integrating all the above thematic layers based on the ranks and weightages, eventually groundwater potential zones are demarcated.