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Application of remote sensing and GIS for delineating groundwater recharge potential zones of Kovilpatti Municipality, Tamil Nadu using IF technique

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Abstract

During the last three decades, remotely sensed data (both satellite images and aerial photographs) have been increasingly used in groundwater exploration and management exercises. An integrated approach has been adopted in the present study to delineate groundwater recharge potential zones using RS and GIS techniques. IRS-1C satellite imageries and Survey of India toposheets are used to prepare various thematic layers viz. geology, soil, land-use, slope, lineament and drainage. These layers were then transformed in to raster data using feature to raster converter tool in ArcGIS 9.3 software. The raster maps of these factors are allocated a fixed score and weight computed from Influencing Factor (IF) technique. The weights of factors contributing to the groundwater recharge are derived using aerial photos, geology maps, a land use database, and field verification. Subjective weights are assigned to the respective thematic layers and overlaid in GIS platform for the identification of potential groundwater recharge zones within the study area. Then these potential zones were categories as ‘high’, ‘moderate’, ‘low’, ‘poor’. The resulted map shows that 19 % of the area has highest recharge potential, mainly confined to buried pediplain, agriculture land-use and river terraces (considerable amount of precipitated water percolates into subsurface), 28 % of the area has moderate groundwater recharge potentiality and rest of the area has low to poor recharge potentiality. The residual hills and linear ridges with steep slopes are not suitable for artificial recharge sites. Finally, 13 % of total average annual precipitated water (840 mm) percolates downward and ultimately contributes to recharge the aquifers in the Kovilpatti Municipality area. The paper is an attempt to suggest for maintaining the proper balance between the groundwater quantity and its exploitation.

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Acknowledgments

Dr.S.Selvam gratefully acknowledges the financial support by University Grant Commission, Government of India, New Delhi through project No.F MRP-5614/15(SERO/UGC). Authors are also grateful to Shri A.P.C.V.Chockalingam, Secretary and Dr.C.Veerabahu, Principal, V.O.C College, Tuticorin for his support to carry out this study. The Editor-in-Chief Dr. Hassan A. Babaie and the anonymous reviewers had suggested their constructive comments to improve the paper. The authors are also thankful to them.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, V.O. Chidambaram College, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India

    S. Selvam

  2. Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research, CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad, 500 007, India

    Farooq A. Dar

  3. Center for Geo-technology, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, 627 012, India

    N. S. Magesh

  4. Department of Geology, Presidency College, Chennai-5, Tamil Nadu, India

    C. Singaraja

  5. Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Institute of Environmental Geosciences, Pukyong National University, Busan, 608-737, South Korea

    S. Venkatramanan & S. Y. Chung

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  1. S. Selvam
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  2. Farooq A. Dar
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  3. N. S. Magesh
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  4. C. Singaraja
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Correspondence to S. Selvam.

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Communicated by: H. A. Babaie

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Selvam, S., Dar, F.A., Magesh, N.S. et al. Application of remote sensing and GIS for delineating groundwater recharge potential zones of Kovilpatti Municipality, Tamil Nadu using IF technique. Earth Sci Inform 9, 137–150 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12145-015-0242-2

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