Abstract
In this study, we assess the soil erosion susceptibility at the sub-basins scale using remote sensing data with the integration of the Geographical Information System (GIS) for the Netravati river basin in Western Ghats, India. The Cartosat digital elevation model was used for the calculation of morphometric parameters, and Landsat satellite images were used for land cover classification. The whole river basin was divided into five sub-basins for identifying the spatial variation of morphometric parameters and different land use categories. A weighted sum approach (WSA) was used for the ranking of each morphometric parameter and land use types. Then each sub-basin was assigned as very low, low, medium, high, and very high priority ranking. The final prioritization map based on the combined (morphometric and land cover) analysis showed erosion susceptibility is very high for sub-basin 4, high for sub-basin 2, medium for sub-basin 5, low for sub-basin 1, and very low for sub-basin 3. Further, the soil erosion susceptibility analysis has been done separately for morphometric and land cover at the sub-basins scale. The results of this study will be useful for the water resource manager and policymaker while considering the soil erosion-prone areas in the region, and the methodology can be adapted for other river basins.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Aher, P. D., Adinarayana, J., & Gorantiwar, S. D. (2014). Quantification of morphometric characterization and prioritization for management planning in semi-arid tropics of India: Remote sensing and GIS approach. Journal of Hydrology, 511, 850–860.
Altaf, S., Meraj, G., & Romshoo, S. A. (2014). Morphometry and land cover based multi-criteria analysis for assessing the soil erosion susceptibility of the western Himalayan watershed. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 186(12), 8391–8412.
Arabameri, A., Pradhan, B., Pourghasemi, H. R., & Rezaei, K. (2018). Identification of erosion-prone areas using different multi-criteria decision-making techniques and GIS. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 9(1), 1129–1155.
Badar, B., Romshoo, S. A., & Khan, M. A. (2013). Integrating biophysical and socioeconomic information for prioritizing watersheds in a Kashmir Himalayan lake: A remote sensing and GIS approach. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 185, 6419–6445.
Bhattacharya, R. K., Chatterjee, N. D., & Das, K. (2019). Multi-criteria-based sub-basin prioritization and its risk assessment of erosion susceptibility in Kansai-Kumari catchment area. India. Applied Water Science, 9(4), 76.
Dams, J., Dujardina, J., Reggersa, R., Bashira, I., Cantersb, F., & Batelaana, O. (2013). Mapping impervious surface change from remote sensing for hydrological modeling. Journal of Hydrology, 485, 84–95.
Dar, R. A., Chandra, R., & Romshoo, S. A. (2013). Morphotectonic and Lithostratigraphic analysis of Intermontane Karewa basin of Kashmir Himalayas. India. Journal of Mountain Science, 10(1), 1–15.
Fohrer, N., Haverkamp, S., Eckhardt, K., & Frede, H. G. (2001). Hydrologic response to land use changes on the catchment scale. Physics Chemical Earth (B), 26, 577–582.
Gajbhiye, S., Mishra, S. K., & Pandey, A. (2014). Prioritizing erosion-prone area through morphometric analysis: An RS and GIS perspective. Applied Water Science, 4(1), 51–61.
Horton, R. E. (1932). Drainage basin characteristics. Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 13, 350–361.
Horton, R. E. (1945). Erosional development of streams and their drainage basins: Hydrophysical approach to quantitative morphology. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 56, 275–370.
Howard, A. D. (1990). Role of hypsometry and planform in basin hydrologic response. Hydrological Processes, 4(4), 373–385.
Ifabiyi, I. P., & Eniolorunda, N. B. (2012). Watershed characteristics and their implication for hydrologic response in the upper Sokoto basin. Nigeria. Journal of Geography and Geology, 4(2), 147.
Javed, A., Khanday, M. Y., & Ahmed, R. (2009). Prioritization of sub-watersheds based on morphometric and land use analysis using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 37(2), 261.
Kadam, A. K., Jaweed, T. H., Kale, S. S., Umrikar, B. N., & Sankhua, R. N. (2019). Identification of erosion-prone areas using modified morphometric prioritization method and sediment production rate: A remote sensing and GIS approach. Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, 10(1), 986–1006.
Kavian, A., Azmoodeh, A., & Solaimani, K. (2013). Deforestation effects on soil properties, runoff and erosion in northern Iran. Arabian Journal of Geosciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-013-0853-1
Krumbein, W.C., Shreve, R.L. (1970). Some statistical properties of dendritic channel networks, Technical Report No. 13, US. Office of Naval Research Contract Nonr-1228(36), Task No. 389–150.
Kumar, A., Darmora, A., & Sharma, S. (2012). Comparative assessment of hydrologic behaviour of two mountainous watersheds using morphometric analysis. Hydrology Journal, 35(3 & 4), 76–87.
Lubowe, J. R. (1964). Stream junction angles in the dendritic drainage pattern. American Journal of Science, 262, 325–339.
Luo, W. (1900). Quantifying groundwater- sapping landforms with a hypsometric technique. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 1685–1694.
Mark, D. M. (1983). Relation between field-surveyed channel network and map-based geomorphometric measures, Inez Kentucky. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 73(3), 358–372.
Meshram, S. G., & Sharma, S. K. (2017). Prioritization of watershed through morphometric parameters: A PCA-based approach. Applied Water Science, 7(3), 1505–1519.
Ministry for Environment and Forests (2001). State of environment report: land degradation. Environmental Information System (ENVIS), Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, New Delhi, Viewed 19 September 2018. http://www.envfor.nic.in/soer/2001/ind_land.pdf
Miller, V. C. (1953). A Quantitative geomorphic study of drainage basin characteristics in the Clinch Mountain area, Virginia and Tennessee, Tech. Rep. 3 NR 389–402, Columbia University, Department of Geology, ONR, New York, NY, USA.
Montgomery, D. R., & Dietrich, W. E. (1992). Channel initiation and the problem of landscape scale. Science, 255, 826–830.
Morgan, R. P. C. (2009). Soil erosion and conservation. John Wiley & Sons.
Myers, N. (1993). Gaia: An atlas of planet management. Anchor and Doubleday.
Nooka Ratnam, K., Srivastava, Y. K., Venkateswara Rao, V., Amminedu, E., & Murthy, K. S. R. (2005). Check dam positioning by prioritization of micro-watersheds using SYI model and morphometric analysis – remote sensing and GIS perspective. J Indian Soc Remote Sens., 33, 25–38.
Pandey, S., Kumar, P., & Panwar, V. P. 2018. Remote sensing for assessing soil erosion susceptibility of the lesser Himalayan watershed by Multi Criteria Analysis (MCA) of morphometry, hypsometry, and land cover. In Remote Sensing for Agriculture, Ecosystems, and Hydrology XX (Vol. 10783, p. 1078327). International Society for Optics and Photonics.
Pradhan, B. (2010). Flood susceptible mapping and risk area estimation using logistic regression, GIS and remote sensing. Journal Spatial Hydrology, 9(2), 1–18.
Ozdemir, H., & Bird, D. (2009). Evaluation of morphometric parameters of drainage networks derived from topographic maps and DEM in point of floods. Environmental Geology, 56(7), 1405–1415.
Ratnam, K. N., Srivastava, Y. K., Rao, V. V., Amminedu, E., & Murthy, K. S. R. (2005). Check dam positioning by prioritization of micro-watersheds using SYI model and morphometric analysis—remote sensing and GIS perspective. Journal of the Indian society of remote sensing, 33(1), 25.
Romshoo, S. A., Bhat, S. A., & Rashid, I. (2012). Geoinformatics for assessing the morphometric control on hydrological response at watershed scale in the Upper Indus Basin. Journal of Earth System Science, 121(3), 659–686.
Rosenqvist, A., & Birkett, C. M. (2002). Evaluation of JERS—1 SAR mosaics for hydrological applications in the Congo river basin. International Journal Remote Sensing, 23(7), 1283–1302.
Saaty, T. L. (1980). The Analytic Hierarchy process. McGraw-Hill.
Samal, D. R., Gedam, S. S., & Nagarajan, R. (2015). GIS based drainage morphometry and its influence on hydrology in parts of Western Ghats region, Maharashtra. India. Geocarto International, 30(7), 755–778.
Sarkar, D., Mondal, P., Sutradhar, S., & Sarkar, P. (2020). Morphometric analysis Using SRTM-DEM and GIS of Nagar River Basin, Indo-Bangladesh Barind tract. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 48(4), 597–614.
Sartori, M., Philippidis, G., Ferrari, E., Borrelli, P., Lugato, E., Montanarella, L., & Panagos, P. (2019). A linkage between the biophysical and the economic: Assessing the global market impacts of soil erosion. Land Use Policy, 86, 299–312.
Schmidt, J., Hennrich, K., & Dikau, R. (2000). Scales and similarities in runoff processes with respect to geomorphometry. Hydrological Processes, 14, 1963–1979.
Schumm, S. A. (1956). Evolution of drainage systems and slopes in badlands at Perth Amboy, New jersey. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 67, 597–646.
Sinha, R. K., & Eldho, T. I. (2018). Effects of historical and projected land use/cover change on runoff and sediment yield in the Netravati river basin, Western Ghats. India. Environ Earth Sci, 77, 111.
Sinha, R. K., Eldho, T. I., & Subimal, G. (2020a). Assessing the impacts of land cover and climate on runoff and sediment yield of a river basin. Hydrological Sciences Journal. https://doi.org/10.1080/15715124.2020.1809434
Sinha, R. K., Eldho, T. I., & Subimal, G. (2020b). Assessing the impacts of historical and future land use and climate change on the streamflow and sediment yield of a tropical mountainous river basin in South India. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 192(11), 1–21.
Strahler, A. N. (1952). Hypsometric (area-altitude) analysis of erosional topography. Bulletin of the Geological Society of America, 63, 1117–1142.
Strahler, A. N. (1957). Quantitative analysis of watershed geomorphology. Transactions of the American Geophysical Union, 38, 913–920.
Strahler, A. N. (1964). Quantitative geomorphology of drainage basins and channel networks. In V. T. Chow (Ed.), Handbook of applied hydrology (pp. 4–11). McGraw Hill Book Company.
Suresh, M., Sudhakara, S., Tiwari, K. N., & Chowdary, V. M. (2004). Prioritization of watersheds using morphometric parameters and assessment of surface water potential using remote sensing. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 32(3), 249–259.
Sutradhar, H. (2020). Assessment of drainage morphometry and watersheds prioritization of Siddheswari River Basin Eastern India. Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing, 48(4), 627–644.
Todorovski, L., & Džeroski, S. (2006). Integrating knowledge driven and data-driven approaches to modeling. Ecological Modelling, 194(1), 3–13.
Yadav, S. K., Singh, S. K., Gupta, M., & Srivastava, P. K. (2014). Morphometric analysis of Upper Tons basin from Northern Foreland of Peninsular India using CARTOSAT satellite and GIS. Geocarto International, 29, 895–914.
Zhang, Z., Sheng, L., Yang, J., Chen, X. A., Kong, L., & Wagan, B. (2015). Effects of land use and slope gradient on soil erosion in a red soil hilly watershed of southern China. Sustainability, 7(10), 14309–14325.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the Department of Science and Technology for financial support to this study. Authors also acknowledge the sponsorship of the project entitled “Impacts of Climate Change on Water Resource in River Basin from Tadri to Kanyakumari” by INCCC, Ministry of Water Resource, Gov. of India
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
About this article
Cite this article
Sinha, R.K., Eldho, T.I. Assessment of Soil Erosion Susceptibility Based on Morphometric and Landcover Analysis: A Case Study of Netravati River Basin, India. J Indian Soc Remote Sens 49, 1709–1725 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-021-01354-1
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12524-021-01354-1