Hydro-geomorphic characteristics of the Indian (Peninsular) catchments: Based on morphometric correlation with hydro-sedimentary data

Abstract

Abstract In terms of hydro-geomorphic characteristics, catchments in Peninsular India remained mostly unexplored except a few regional works that deal with tectonic, structural and paleo-climatic control on geomorphology. Catchment scale morphometric analyses deliver insights into dynamics, erosion capacity, probability of flood occurrence, lithological and structural control, and genetic response to the tectonics. The present study aimed to characterize hydro-geomorphic characteristics of 12 major catchments in Peninsular India through GIS-based morphometric analysis. A total of 25 morphometric parameters were computed and several statistical analyses performed in establishing inter-correlation and classifying Indian rivers. Most of the rivers in peninsular India were found 7th to 9th order catchments. Almost all basins showed a moderate relief ratio, hypsometric integral, ruggedness etc. Cauvery, Baitarni, and Brahmani showed exceptionally steeper gradient, high relief ratio, LS factor, and ruggedness index, which indicate higher erosion potential. Correlation among landscape variables indicated moderate scale dependency of few relief factors. Baitarni, Brahmani and Narmada showed higher hypsometric integral. A strong positive association between hypsometric integral and sediment yield suggested critically high erosion potential in catchments with high integral values. The present study provides some generic insights into the hydro-geomorphic characteristics with dissimilarity in lithology in peninsular Indian catchments as a whole. For an in-depth understanding of hydro-geomorphic control and evolution, a higher resolution sub-catchment scale analyses would be required.