Springer Hydrogeology | 2021
Delineating the Status of Groundwater in a Plateau Fringe Region Using Multi-influencing Factor (MIF) and GIS: A Study of Bankura District, West Bengal, India
Abstract
Present study tries to identify the groundwater potential areas in a plateau fringe region of the tropical environment. Groundwater is an essential natural resource of any region and it also bears the hydrogemomorphological conditions of that region. The availability of groundwater indicates the geomorphological, hydrological, pedological as well as vegetal characteristics of a particular area. The current study evaluates the status of groundwater of Bankura district, West Bengal which located in the eastern slope of Precambrian Chota Nagpur plateau dominated by granite gneiss and Gondwana deposits. Major groundwater potential zones are confined within residual weathered rocks of the district. The present study, therefore, was undertaken to identify the significant groundwater development with the help of remote sensing data. The original data sets like Landsat 8 multispectral data, aster DEM data, toposheets has been used to evaluates the hydrological, geomorphological, pedological and landuse landcover characteristics of Bankura district. Ten features (geology, geomorphology, pedology, soil texture, lineament density, relief, slope, drainage, aridity and landuse landcover) which delineates the groundwater potentiality have been analysed and integrated. The weighted raster has been created after assigning the relative weight derived from Multi-Influencing Factor (MIF) analysis. All the features have been integrated into a GIS environment. The weighted index overlay method has been followed after assigning the certain weight derived from MIF to each class of each feature. The result indicates the poor to a fairly good condition of groundwater potentiality in all over the district. The whole district has been categorized into four distinct groundwater potential zones. Very poor groundwater potential zone constitutes 6% of the total district area, covered by unweathered granite gneiss geological formations mostly. This is the area of plateau proper also. Poor groundwater potential zones occupy 39% of the total area covering proper plateau fringe region. This is the area of crystalline gneiss rock of dissected plateau. High slope and undulating characteristics of the terrain helps less infiltration of rainwater. The reasonably good condition of groundwater potentiality occupies a majority of the block, covering 46% of the total area of the district. This is the area of significant rivers interfluvial area covered by upper alluvium geological formations. Less relief and slope with high drainage density helps in easy groundwater recharging creates good groundwater potential zone. The very good potentiality of groundwater covers floodplains of major river basins in the districts occupy 9% of the whole area. This is the area of newly deposited alluvial soil helps easy recharging of groundwater.