Modeling morphometric and geomorphological parameters of mountainous river basin for water resource management using remote sensing and GIS approach

Himachal Pradesh is a hilly cum snow-fed state in the Northern India with five major perennial rivers. Due to changing climate, rapid industrialization, population explosion, the natural resources are in the vulnerable stage. In this study, Beas River was chosen for the morphometric analysis using remote sensing and geographical information system. Morphometric and geomorphological analyses deal with the shape and size of earth's landforms and their correlation with various water conservation prospects at sub-basin level. To highlight the robustness of geospatial techniques, morphometric analysis of Beas River Basin was carried out with remote sensing and geographical information system. In this study, digital elevation model (DEM) of 30 m resolution from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) was used to extract the various parameters and modeling was carried out in ArcGIS 10.2 software. The study of morphometric parameters such as stream order (S-o), mean stream length ratio (L-urm), stream length (L-u), stream number (N-u), stream length ratio (L-ur), bifurcation ratio (R-b), mean bifurcation ratio (R-bm), length of main channel (C-l) were examined for the study area. The aerial parameters like drainage density, form factor (F-f), circulatory ratio (R-c), elongation ratio (R-e), etc., were also considered for the study. According to the findings, the results from this thorough study can be effectively used for the site selection and design of structures for the conservation of water resources and to deliberately plan for the sustainable management of watersheds, and floods-related natural disasters.