Morphometric analysis of Jiyadhol river basin of Dhemaji district of Assam using remote sensing and GIS techniques

Morphometry becomes useful when analyzing the characteristics of watersheds and their response to the various forms of management. The aim of this study to describe and understand the drainage morphometric analysis of the erosion sensitive Jiyadhol River basin using remote sensing and GIS techniques. These were simple morphometric parameters of River basin, classified into linear (one-dimension), aerial (two-dimension) and relief (three-dimension) analysed. The findings of this study clearly showed that the Jiyadhol River basin could be categorized as a fifth order stream. The variations in slope and structure of the basin show that the infiltration capacity is variable with respect to the stream orders within the basin. Additionally, the bifurcation ratio shows that the stream networks superimposed on a uniform substrate with few structural partitions. There is little sign of water storage in River basin and there is higher water discharge during the flood period. According to drainage density, moderate permeability of subsoil material formed a coarse drainage texture in the basin. The River basin is at a more advanced stage of the denudation progress. The drainage texture was observed to encourage formation of soil crevices through which it was established that the soils were fairly vulnerable to wash off. Thus, proper use of suitable conservation tillage practices such as contour, cover crops, graded bunding and grass strips from suitable species such as vetiver might be applied to save the soil from any erosive forces.