MORPHOMETRIC ANALYSIS

OF KHADAK SUB-BASIN OF
WARDHA RIVER,
MAHARASHTRA
 
By: RIYA K. GHODMARE
( IV th sem )
 INTRODUTION
 The morphometric study involves investigations on drainage and its measurement through various stream
properties. Such study represents evaluation of characteristic of a watershed in a region which provides
idea about its history, geological structures, soil types, sub-surface material etc.

• The studies on the drainage characteristics of a watershed in a region provide reliable idea about its
denudational history, sub-surface material, geological structures, soil types and vegetation status etc

• The watershed management concept recognizes inter-relationship between uplands and low lands,
slope /soil, geomorphology and all of this is influenced by hydrologic processes and use of land potential
of the area.
• The present review describes the drainage characteristics of Khadak sub-basin of the main Wardha
River, Maharashtra.
  STUDY AREA
• Location and Extent :
Wardha is one the 11 districts of Vidarbha. It has a geographical area of 6310 km2, which is about 2.0% of the
area of the State.
The watershed WRK1 covering an area of 58.5 km2 of Wardha District falling between the lattitudes
78°18’30”-78°22’00”and longitudes 21° 5’ 30”-21° 10’ 30”of survey of India (SOI) toposheet no. 55K/8 is
considered here for the morphometric studies.

• CLIMATE AND RAINFALL :

The climate of the district is characterized by a hot summer and general dryness throughout the year except
during the south-west monsoon season i.e., June to September. The mean minimum temperature is 12.1°C
and mean maximum temperature is 42.8°C.
Temperature ranges between 800mm to 1200mm.

 SOIL TYPES :
The soil of the district is basically derived from Deccan Trap Basalt and almost entire district consists of black
or dark brown soil over a sheet of Deccan Trap Basalt.
 GEOLOGY
Geologically, about 98% of the watershed is covered by Deccan trap basaltic lava flows.
Recently the area is covered by alluvial deposit by one major drainage.
Table 1: Generalized Geological Sequence of Wardha district (CGWB, 2013).

Geologic period Age Stratigraphic unit Rock type

(million years)
Recent   Alluvial Sand, silt, clay
Upper Cretaceous-Lower     Basalt,massive vesicular,
Eocene 30-60 Basalt (Deccan Trap ) amygdaloidal varities with inter-
    trappean

Middle Cretaceous   Infra-trappean beds  

   
  METHODOLOGY

 Under linear aspects: stream order, number of streams, stream length, mean stream length, stream
length ratio, and bifurcation ratio have been calculated.
 Under areal aspects: the factors like basin area, basin length, perimeter, drainage density, drainage
texture, texture ratio, elongation ratio, circularity ratio, form factor, fitness ratio, stream frequency and
infiltration number, length of overland flow and constant of channel maintenance are calculation.
 Relief factors cover the calculation on basin relief, basin ratio, ruggedness number, height of highest
and lowest points in basin.

• LINEAR ASPECTS :
1. Stream order (u) : Stream ordering is the first step for measuring the position of the stream in tributaries
within the river basin .
In the Watershed WRK1(Khadak mini-watershed) is ranked by Strahlers stream ordering.
A total of 149 streams linked with 1st, 2nd ,3rd and 4th level orders.

2. Stream number (Nu) : The total number of stream segments present in each order is the
stream number (Nu)
 N – number of streams
u – order of stream
~ order of stream
1+1=2
1+2=2
2+2=3
2 + 3 = 3 ….& so on

2. Length of the stream ( Lu );

L – length of stream
u – order of stream
~ as order increases the length of stream decreases

3. Bifurcation Ratio: The bifurcation ratio (Rb) is the ratio of number of streams of any given order to the number of
streams of next higher order (Nu +1)

[Rb = Nu/Nu+1]

Where,
Nu = Total no. of stream segments of order 'u';
Nu+1= Number of stream segments of the next higher order.
 
  AREAL ASPECTS : The areal aspects of drainage basin includes (Re), Drainage density (Du), texture ratio
(Tu), stream frequency (Fs), infiltration number(If) and the length of the overload flow (Lo).

1. Basin Area(Au) : The area of basin is an important parameter, which establishes relationship between the total
watershed area and total stream lengths that are supporting to the contributing area (schumm, 1956).
The watershed of area WRK1 covers an area of 58.5 km sq.
2. Basin Length(Lb) : The basin length is measured along the longest flow path .
3. Basin perimeter(P) : Basin perimeter refers to the outer boundary of the drainage basin that encloses its area.
4. Drainage Density(Dd) : It is the ratio of total length of all orders of stream in given area to the total basin area

Dd = Lu*
A
Range; 0 to 5 - coarse texture ( widely spread )
5 to 13.5 – medium texture
more than 13.5 – fine texture ( closely spaced )

Like wise , Drainage Texture, Texture ratio , Elongation ratio ,

stream frequency , Infiltration number has been calculated.
  RELIEF ASPECTS :A third group of parameters, indicates the vertical dimension of a drainage basin, it
indicates basin relief (H), relief ratio (Eh), ruggedness Number (Rn) and height difference between highest and
lowest points in the basin.
1. Basin Relief (H) ; Basin Relief 'R' is the elevation difference between the highest peak and lowest point of the
valley floor.
(H =Z-z)
Where, H = Basin relief
Z= Highest elevation in the basin
Z= lowest elevation in the basin

2. Relief Ratio (Rh) ; Relief ratio is defined as the ratio between the total relief of a basin i.e, elevation
difference of the lowest and highest points of a basin, and the longest dimension of the basin parallel to the
principal drainage line (Schum, 1956).
(Rh =H/Lb)
Where, Rh = Relief ratio
H= Basin relief
Lb = length of basin
3. Ruggedness Number (Rn) ; Rn is the product of maximum basin relief (Bh) and Drainage density (Dd)
Rn = (Du * H) /1000]
Where, Rn = ruggedness number
Du = drainage density
H = basin relief
  RESULTS
In the present work, an attempt has been made to derive the drainage characteristics of Khadak sub-basin of the main Wardha River
for understanding its drainage network relationship. The quantitative drainage analysis for this watershed are carried out in accordance with
the various aspects. i.e, linear aspects, areal aspects and relief aspects and the results are given below;

Table1:Linear aspects of Khadak sub- basin, Wardha river.

 Table 3:Relief aspects of Khadak sub-basin, Wardha river

Table 2 :Areal aspects of Khadak sub-basin,

Wardha river
Fig: index map of study
area
  CONCLUSION
The morphometric analyses of watershed of Khadak sub-basin of Wardha river,
Maharashtra were carried out through measurement of linear, areal and relief aspects.
The quantitative analyses of these morphometric characteristics reveals that, under
almost homogeneous climatic and morphological conditions, the basin exhibits very
less complex morphometric attributes. These conditions are validated by the drainage
pattern behavior of the area. Lower order streams mostly dominate the basin. The
stream in the area obeys the Law of Horton (1965). The texture and lack of structural
control, mean bifurcation ratio (1.99), low drainage density (1.4km/km 2), higher
relief ratio (0.005) and low ruggedness value (0.063) shows homogeneity in
morphological, geological and climatic conditions in the study area. The erosional
processes of fluvial origin are largely influenced by the subsurface lithology of the
basin.
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