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IAPRS & SIS, Vol.34, Part 7, “Resource and Environmental Monitoring”, Hyderabad, India, 2002 
APPLICATION OF REMOTE SENSING DATA TO GROUNDWATER EXPLORATION: 
À CASE STUDY OF A PART OF HARD ROCK TERRAIN OF CENTRAL INDIA. 
L.P. Chourasia 
Department of Applied Geology, Dr. H.S. Gour University, Sagar M.P. 470003 India 
E-mail: Ipc50@hotmail.com; Ipc50 @rediffmail.com 
KEY WORDS : Ground water, Exploration, Remote sensing, Hard rock terrain. 
ABSTRACT : 
The study area consists of Bundelkhand Granite Complex overlain by the Bijawar & Vindhyan rocks. The exploration of ground 
water in this area requires a systematic technique in order to obtain optimum results but in absence of these investigations, the failure 
rate is very high prior to the drilling of water wells. In order to demarcate the areas, which are expected to be suitable for future 
ground water development, remote sensing data were used to define some hydrological and hydrogeological features in the study 
area. Lineament/fracture and drainage pattern then analysed using length-density and frequency, and drainage-density and frequency. 
Results were then used to demarcate areas of high, medium and low ground water potential. Results also indicate that correlation 
exists between lineament and drainage patterns, lithology, water conductivity, well yield, transmissivity and the occurrence of 
ground water. 
INTRODUCTION 
Groundwater in a hard rock terrain is multivariate because of 
its relation to topography, depth and extent of weathered 
material overlying bed rock and because of the size, nature, 
density, orientation and interconnection of joints and faults. 
Hence, multidisciplinary investigations are necessary to 
understand the occurrence of groundwater in hard rocks. As a 
result, groundwater exploration in a hard rock terrain has 
proved to be complex. Modern methods normally remote 
sensing along with conventional surveys can be very useful in 
determining the nature of fractures, drainage and their pattern 
and density over large area. Raju (1985), Satyanarayan Rao 
(1983). Janardhanaraiu and Reddy (1998), Rao et al (2000), 
etc., applied remote sensing techniques in groundwater 
exploration in hard rock terrain of south India. 
STUDY AREA 
The study area lies between latitudes 24°49°10’’ and 25° 10° N 
and between longitudes 79° 28 45°’ and 79°45’ E and falls in 
Survey of India toposheet nos. 54 p/5, 54 p/9 and 54 O/12. It is 
a part of hard rock terrain namely Bundalkahnd region or 
Central India. It belongs to upper Urmil river drainage basin. It 
covers an area of 450 square kilometers. Physiographically, the 
area has rugged and undulating terrain with few scattered and 
elongated hill and parallel distinct quartz reefs. The area is 
gently slopping towards northeast. The climate of the area is 
semi-arid type. 
The average annual rainfall of the area is about 1060 
millimeters. The Location of study area is shown in Fig. 1 
METHODS 
The fractures are the surface expression of joints, zones of joint 
concentrations and faults. In order to understand the 
507 
significance of fracture pattern and density in groundwater 
assessment, an integrated map of structure and 
hydrogeomorphology were prepared using remote sensing data 
of Landsat 3 imagery. The position of water table was 
measured in 95 observation wells during May-June (Pre- 
monsoon) and November-December 1999 (Post-monsoon) 
Lithologic log, groundwater flow directions and water table 
fluctuations were studied. The present study builds upon the 
previous studies by analyzing the density of fractures and 
drainage in relation to potential groundwater zones. 
GEOLOGY AND STRUCTURE 
The geology of the area is studied by Basu (1986) and Jain 
(1997). The study area is underlain by rocks of Archaean age 
consisting of Bundelkhand granite and gneiss cut by pegmatite, 
aplite and epidiorite dykes (Fig. 2). Alluvium is present along 
the lower courses of the river. The granite is coarse to medium- 
grained; the coarse-grained gramte is porphyritic in part and the 
medium-grained; variety commonly grades into gneiss. 
Generally two varieties of granites are present; one is pink and 
the other is gray. Gneiss is associated with the gray variety. The 
dolente is medium to fine-grained and forms dykes. The 
predominant trends of the fractures are NW-SE and ENE- 
WSW; minor trends are N-S, E-W and NE-SW. Most of the 
area drainage is fracture controlled. 
HYDROGEOMORPHOLOGY AND HYDROGEOLOGY 
The landforms of the study area were classified as flood plain, 
alluvial plain, infilled valley, deeply/moderately and shallow 
weathered burried pediplain pediplain, denudation hills and 
linear ridges (Fig 3). A brief description of landform 
characteristic, groundwater prospects and measured yield of 
well in each  landform is given in Table 1