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Application of remote sensing and GIS analysis for identifying groundwater potential zone in parts of Kodaikanal Taluk, South India

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Abstract

Groundwater potential zones were demarcated with the help of remote sensing and Geographic Information System (GIS) techniques. The study area is composed rocks of Archaean age and charnockite dominated over others. The parameters considered for identifying the groundwater potential zone of geology slope, drainage density, geomorphic units and lineament density were generated using the resource sat (IRS P6 LISS IV MX) data and survey of India (SOI) toposheets of scale 1:50000 and integrated them with an inverse distance weighted (IDW) model based on GIS data to identify the groundwater potential of the study area. Suitable weightage factors were assigned for each category of these parameters. For the various geomorphic units, weightage factors were assigned based on their capability to store ground-water. This procedure was repeated for all the other layers and resultant layers were reclassified. The reclassified layers were then combined to demarcate zones as very good, good, moderate, low, and poor. This groundwater potentiality information could be used for effective identification of suitable locations for extraction of potable water for rural populations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, 608002, India

    Murugesan Bagyaraj, Thirunavukkarasu Ramkumar & Senapathi Venkatramanan

  2. Department of Geology, Gandhigram Rural Institute, Deemed University, Gandhigarm, 624302, India

    Balasubramanian Gurugnanam

Authors
  1. Murugesan Bagyaraj
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  2. Thirunavukkarasu Ramkumar
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  3. Senapathi Venkatramanan
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  4. Balasubramanian Gurugnanam
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Thirunavukkarasu Ramkumar or Senapathi Venkatramanan.

Additional information

Murugesan Bagyaraj obtained his M.Sc. degree in applied geology from Annamalai University, India. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University. His research interest focuses on hydrogeology, remote-sensing and GIS in Kodaikanal, South India.

Thirunavukkarasu Ramkumar obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Sc (Hydrology), M. Phil., Ph.D degree from Annamalai University, respectively, M.Sc. (Environmental Science) from Nottingham University, UK. Now he is a Professor and Head in Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, India. His expertise is in the area of environmental geochemisty, hydrogeology, sedimentology and remote-sensing and GIS. Prof. Ramkumar has published more than 30 peer-reviewed research articles in his research area.

Senapathi Venkatramanan obtained his B.Sc. degree in geology from Madurai Kamaraj University, India; M.Sc. (Applied Geology), M.Sc. (Geoinformatics), M.Phil. degrees in applied geology from Annamalai University, India. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Earth Sciences, Annamalai University, India. His research interest focuses on environmental geochemisty, sedimentology, hydrogeology, remote-sensing and GIS in Tirumalairajan estuary, India. He has published more than 20 peerreviewed research articles in his research area

Balasubramanian Gurugnanam obtained his B.Sc., M.Sc., M.Tech. degrees from Bharathidasan University, India, M.Phil. degree from Madras University, India, M.Sc. degree from Salzburg University and Ph.D. degree from Annamalai University, India, respectively. Now he is a Director in Centre for Applied Geology, Gandhigram Rural University, India. His expertise is in the area of remote-sensing and GIS and hydrogeology. Prof. Gurugnanam has published more than 30 peer-reviewed research articles in his research area.

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Bagyaraj, M., Ramkumar, T., Venkatramanan, S. et al. Application of remote sensing and GIS analysis for identifying groundwater potential zone in parts of Kodaikanal Taluk, South India. Front. Earth Sci. 7, 65–75 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-012-0347-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11707-012-0347-6

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