Study of drainage profiles in Jharia Coalfield, eastern India from aerial photographs: Implication for land use planning

Abstract

Drainage analysis of an area through aerial photographs helps a lot in knowing its soil textrue, mainly its porosity, permeability, grainsize and compactness. These observations may be used as a guide for land use planning over the area.

Studies have been conducted in Jharia Coalfield through scanning of acrial photographs to know the textural characters of soil/rock cover over the area. Nature of valley profiles have been studied in detail. The overall drainage pattern and drainage texture have also been studied. The observation have been used to infer about the textue of the materials (rock/soil) traversed by the drainage lines in the region. The observations suggest that the major part of the field is covered by materials of moderate cohesiveness with good porosity, permeability and recharge capacity. These informations have been used as critical inputs for future land use planning in the area.