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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, "Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India, 2002 
  
  
APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING IN HYDROGEOMORPHOLOGICAL STUDIES 
OF PURNA RIVER BASIN IN PARBHANI DISTRICT, MAHARASHTRA, INDIA 
Md. Babar 
Department of Geology, Dnyanopasak College, Parbhani-431 401[M.S.] India 
email: mdbabar2002 @rediffmail.com and mdbabar G hotmail.com 
KEY WORDS: Purna river basin, Hydrogeomorphology, Geomorphic surfaces, groundwater potentiality 
ABSTRACT: 
Remote sensing technique is the best tool in understanding the hydrogeomorphological characteristics of the basin. The 
hydrogeomorphological conditions of Purna river basin in Parbhani District are considered for the present work. The geological, 
hydrogeological and geomorphological studies were carried out, through visual interpretation of FCC of IRS 1B with adequate 
ground truth. Geologically, the study area belongs to the Deccan trap basalts of late Cretaceous to early Eocene period. Two types of 
basaltic lava flows occurring in the study area are massive (aa type) and vesicular-amygdaloidal (compound pahoehoe type), which 
are at places separated by redbole beds and pipe vesicles. The groundwater in the study area is restricted mostly to the zones of 
secondary porosity developed due to fractures, joints and weathering. The groundwater potentiality of the younger and older alluvial 
plains and the valley fill is very good while it is moderate to good in the fractured zones of the dissected plateaus of the basin. The 
weathered pediments with fractures and denudational hills are having moderate to poor groundwater potentiality. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
The climate, physiography, drainage and geology of the area 
influence the groundwater occurrence. Hydrogeomorphological 
mapping allows an improved understanding of basin 
management, groundwater exploration and landuse planning. 
Analysis of remotely sensed data and Survey of India 
topographical maps, collateral information and limited ground 
check help in establishing the baseline information for 
groundwater targeting of the area. Further more remote sensing 
techniques are efficient means of obtaining 
hydrogeomorphological data more accurately at a faster rate 
with less manpower and with greater efficiency. 
In many earlier studies (Karanath and Seshu Babu, 1978; Raju 
et al, 1985; Satyanarayana, 1991; Kulkarni, 1994; Srinivasa 
Rao et al, 1997; Patil et al, 1999 and Babar 2001) the remote 
sensing techniques have been applied for groundwater 
prospecting in India. 
Hydrogeomorphology is the study of landforms caused by the 
action of water (Scheidegger, 1973). By this definition almost 
all of geomorphology is Hydrogeomorphology, because water 
is one of the most important agent in forming and shaping of 
landforms. From the groundwater point of view integration of 
geological, structural and  hydrogeological data with 
hydrogeomorphological data is very much useful in finding out 
the groundwater potential zones with fruitful results. 
Groundwater is a dynamic and replenishable natural 
resource, but in hard rock terrain like basalt the availability of 
groundwater is essentially confined to fractured and weathered 
zones (Adyalkar et al, 1996; Agralwal, 1995; Babar and 
Kaplay, 1999; Babar 2000; Obi Reddy, 2001 and Shah, 2001). 
In the present study, an attempt has been made to evaluate the 
groundwater potential of various hydrogeomorphological units 
of Purna river basin in Parbhani district, Maharashtra, India. 
519 
1.1 Study Area 
The study area, Purna River basin The study area is bounded 
by latitudes 19° 06 N and 19° 52° N and longitudes 76° 12° E 
and 77° 05 E and is included in the Survey of India toposheets 
56 A/9, A/10, A/11, A/12, A/14, A/15, A/16 and 56 E/4.It 
covers an area of 4435.42 Sq.Km. in Parbhani district. The 
study area belongs to semiarid and subtropical climate 
characterised by hot summer and the normal annual rainfall of 
909 mm. 
2. METHODOLOGY 
The study was carried out in the area by using IRS-1B LISS IT 
Satellite imageries (FCC - geocoded) generated from bands 2,3 
and 4 and on the scale 1:50,000. Drainage map of the watershed 
was prepared from the toposheet maps of survey of India on 
1:50,000 scales. This map was superimposed on the satellite 
imagery of the same area. The imagery was visually interpreted 
by using standard interpretation key such as colour, tone, 
texture, pattern of drainage, shape and topography etc to 
prepare geomorphological map. The conventional information 
such as geological, hydrogeological, well inventory data and 
also the information collected during the field checks was used 
in the finalisation of the hydrogeomorphological map. 
3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 
3.1 Geology of the area 
The study area Purna river basin in Parbhani district is 
underlained by Deccan trap basalt of late Cretaceous to early 
Eocene period. Two types of basalt flows observed are compact 
(aa) basalt and amygdaloidal (pahoehoe) basalt along with at 
places red bole (Tachylitic basalt) beds. In Deccan basalt the 
groundwater occurs under phreatic condition in the exposed 
lava flows and under semi confined condition in the flows at