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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, *Resource and Environmental Monitoring", Hyderabad, India, 2002
The Dangri river and its tributaries have built narrow terraces
along their courses. These narrow flat surfaces are mostly
cultivated. ;
The rivers in hilly tract have narrow flood plains which
meander at places. After entering the piedmont zone, the flood
plains become wider and consist of rounded and subrounded
boulders, pebbles, rock fragments, sands and gravels. The
landforms observed are sand bars, braided channels, and
channel bars.
Hydrogeomorphology
The ground water condition of any area is controlled by
lithology, structure, relief, landform and degree of weathering.
Various zones of run-off, groundwater recharge, groundwater
storage and discharge are delineated on the basis of these
parametrs.
Run-off Zones
The structural hills of Subathus and Siwaliks form the main
run-off zones in the Dangri watershed. Though the lithology in
these geomorphic units have primary porosity, the
predominance of shales and clays render them less permeable.
High relief and steep slopes together with the less permeable
lithology results in loss of a major portion of the rainfall as
surface run-off. Since these formations are highly faulted,
Jointed and folded, some water infiltrates through these weaker
planes and comes out as springs along slopes, as could be seen
in these areas.
Recharge or Infiltration Zones
The major recharge zones in the Dangri watershed include the
piedmont zones, alluvial plain, flood plain, river terraces, and
river beds.
The piedmont zones bordering the Siwalik foot hills consisting
of the unconsolidated materials such as coarse clastics,
reworked pebbles, boulders, sands, gravels, silt, clays etc. form
the most important infiltration zones in the area.
River beds, flood plains, alluvial plain, and terraces also form
good recharge zones. They consist mostly of sand, silt and
having high infiltration characteristics. Ground water occurs
under unconfined to semi-confined conditions. Water level is
shallow in river beds and flood plains, but deeper in terraces
and alluvial plains.
Landuse/Landcover
The land use / land cover information provides extent and
spatial distribution of various land use/land cover categories. It
gives information about categories of forests land, waste land,
cropped area (Rabi/Kharif), etc. It also assists in planning the
optimal land utilization. Land use/land cover information
derived from temporal data assists in determining cropping
intensity and change in the land utilization pattern. The
applications of remote sensing techniques are well established
in land use/ land cover studies (e.g. Thrower, 1970; Anderson,
1971; Hooda et al, 1992; Clevers et al 1999).
The various land use/ landcover classes were deleniated in the
map, those are dense forest, moderately dense forest, open
forest, scrub, plantation, cropped land, fallow/single crop,
sandy area, exposed rock, river/ channel and water body.
Physiography and Soils
For any developmental activity related to land and water on
watershed basis, information on soils, their characteristics and
classification is imperative. Soil variation depends on the soil
667
forming factors. The topography and vegetation cover are the
dominant factors that control the soil development. In the study
area, there are four major physiographic units namely Alluvial
plain, piedmont, Siwalik hills and mountains, valley and river
terraces. These physiographic units are further divided into
sub-units according to their landuse practices and vegetation
cover. The major soils, with their associations found in the area
are Fine loamy Typic Haplustepts, Coarse loamy Typic
Haplustepts, Coarse loamy Typic Ustifluents, Loamy skeletal
Typic Ustifluents, Typic Ustipssaments, Coarse loamy Typic
Ustorthents, Loamy skeletal Typic Haplustepts, ^ Loamy
skeletal Typic Ustorthents, Fragmental Typic Ustorthents. The
detailed description and their land capability classes are given
in table-1.
Table-1: Soil of Various Physiographic Units, Their description
and Land Capability classification
Soil
Physio Description e
graphy | Associations L
Ce
€
Alluvial Plain
Plain Fine loamy Gentle to level alluvial plain | II
Typic having slope (0-146), very
Haplustepts, deep soil, loamy to coarse
Coarse loamy | loamy texture, yellowish
Typic brown colour, cultivated,
Ustifluvents occasionally affected by flood,
high to moderate erosion.
Bar Coarse Sandbar between two II
loamy channels, level to nearly level,| I
Typic slope (0-196), mainly
Ustifluvents wastelands, very deep, sandy
Typic texture, susceptible to river
Ustipsamm cutting erosion, scruby
ents vegetation.
Piedmont
Lower Piedmont
Occas | Coarse Very Gentle to gentle II
sional loamy undulating, lower Piedmont, I
cultiva | Typic slope (1-396), very deep soils,
tion Ustorthents, yellowish brown to dark
Loamy brown colour, coarse loamy
Skeletal texture, well drained, seasonal
Typic cultivation, moderate erosion.
Haplustepts
Cultiv | Fine loamy Lower piedmont, very gentle | II
ated Typic to gentle undulating uplands,
Haplustepts slope (1-396), very deep
, Coarse soils, pale brown to dark
loamy yellowish brown, coarse
Typic loamy texture, cultivated,
Haplustepts slight to moderate erosion.
Paleo | Typic Paleo channel within the I
Chann | Ustipsamm lower piedmont, gentle to V
els & ents, coarse nearly level, slope (0-
Sand loamy 1%),very deep, sandy in
Bar Typic texture, mainly scrubs, or
Ustifluvent degraded pasture moderate to
slight erosion.
Upper Piedmont
Forest | Loamy skeletal| Upper piedmont just II
plantat | Typic immediate vicinity of Siwalik | Ie
ion Ustorthents, Hills, gentle slope (1-396), S
Coarse loamy | very deep soils, brown to dark
