The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. Vol. XXXVII. Part B4. Beijing 2008 
230 
Arc/Info by latticepoly option as well as by wentworth 
method. The structural hills and the cuesta type hills represents 
steeper slope category and higher run off zone where as the 
structural valleys and Dun valley represents low runoff zones 
allowing more time for the water to be in contact to the surface 
and allows higher infiltration into the subsurface thereby 
increasing the recharge of ground water in different geomorphic 
features. 
Lineaments are large scale linear features which expresses itself 
in terms of topography which is in itself an expression of the 
underlying structural features. From the ground water point of 
view such features includes valleys controlled by folding, 
faulting and jointing, hill ranges and ridge lines, abrupt 
truncation of rocks, straight segments of streams and right 
angled offsetting of stream courses (Ravindran et al., 1995) as 
these linear features are commonly associated with dislocation 
and deformation they provide the pathways for groundwater 
movements ( Small, 1970). Lineaments are important in rocks 
where secondary permeability and porosity dominate the inter 
granular characteristics combine in secondary openings 
influencing weathering, soil water and ground water movements. 
The fracture zones forms an interlaced network of high 
transmissivity and acts as ground water conduits in massive 
rocks in inter fractured areas. The lineament intersection area 
are considered to be good ground water potential zones. The 
with higher lineament density and topographically low elevated 
grounds are considered to be the best aquifer zones. All the 
linear features in the study area are marked on the lineament 
map. The distribution of the lineaments is observed to be 
maximum on the northern and southern region. These 
lineaments ranges between a few kilometers to several 
kilometers in length ( Figure 3.1 ). The SE -NW trending 
lineaments are predominant followed by the E-W trending 
lineaments still smaller lineaments, are in the NE - SW direction 
very few of them are observed in the NNW-SSE direction 
(Figure 3.1).Based on the above criteria the entire area is 
divided into different hydro-geomorphic units such as structural 
hills, structural valleys, valley fills, river terraces, piedmont 
zones, alluvial plains and flood plains, Channel bar etc. (Figure 
4). Within structural hills ridge type geomorphic units are low in 
ground water potential but the fractured zones acts as good 
ground water conduits. Cuesta type hills also acts as good 
ground water aquifer zones at different levels. Landslide zones 
especially old landslides holds good ground water storage zones 
in the form of springs where as the scraps are poor in ground 
water potential. 
Within the structural valleys river terraces at different elevation 
away from the river bed has also been recognized by (Nossin, 
1971) These terraces holds good ground water storage zones. 
The terraced structures facilitates higher surface water 
infiltration and low run off, especially the terraces with 
agricultural bundings holds higher rate of infiltration. The upper 
half of the terrace closer to the hills and transversed by 
perennial streams show higher sub-surface flow closer to the 
stream length and lesser flow away from it. The depth of water 
level also increases away from the hill. The older river terrace 
signifies deeper water level in comparison to the younger river 
terraces closer to the present river channel. The piedmont zones 
also acts as zone of major infiltration and are the major recharge 
zones for the foothill region. It allows rapid infiltration at the 
head of the piedmont zone due to the presence of coarser 
material and slower infiltration away from it. The base of the 
piedmont zone serves as saturated groundwater zones which 
serves as aquifers. Alluvial plains by virtue of its proximity to 
the perennial river source, flat terrain and higher permeability 
hold very high recharge and least run off. Even the region away 
from the river channel holds the same potential for the ground 
water due to the presence of higher permeability and porosity 
through the homogeneous alluvial plain. Flood plains formed 
by the major rivers in the Dun valley has higher potential for 
channel bed infiltration and sub-surface water storage due to the 
presence of unconsolidated river borne sediments. Channel bars 
are composed of sub rounded to sub-angular pebbles and 
cobbles and are recognized as zones of very high infiltration, 
therefore the base levels are considered to have higher sub - 
surface flow even at shallow depth. Land use/ land cover also 
influence the percolation of precipitation from the top soil to the 
subsurface aquifer zones, forest cover and agriculture area 
represents good recharge condition as compared to the 
scrubland and wastelands. To understand the hydro- geological 
behaviour in the study area a comprehensive well inventory was 
carried out for different types of wells ranging from open well, 
dug wells hand pumps as well as the inventory of springs. Other 
information on the well parameters are gathered from the 
Irrigation and Public Health Department, Ground Water 
Organization and Central Ground Water Board. 
Figure 4 
Data Integratation and Ground water Potential: 
To evaluate the different ground water potential zones, essential 
parameters were considered, these essential parameters were 
carefully selected for different geomorphic units Nakata (1972) 
and different weightage were assigned as per their water 
retaining capacity within the study area Thapa (2007). 
To account for varying geology Rupke and Sharma (1976) 
quartzite and slates were assigned lower weightage due to their 
inherent hardness and compactness, lacking inter granular 
porosity and impermeability. Shales with sandstones and the 
compact Conglomerate Formation were assigned low weightage 
on account of their impervious nature. Dharmshala sandstone 
with shales, Subathu shale, quartzite and limestone, Siwalik