Photonirvachak
J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Demarcation of Palaeochannels and Integrated Ground Water
Resources Mapping in Parts of Hisar District, Haryana
B.S. Chaudhary . Sandeep Aggarwal
Received: 21 January 2008 / Accepted : 28 February 2009
Keywords Ground water . Data integration . Remote sensing . GIS . Palaeochannel
Abstract Present study deals with the demarcation
of palaeochannels and mapping of integrated water
resources in parts of Hisar district, Haryana using
Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1D) LISS-III
Data of December 21, 2001. The landforms identified
are Sand Dune, Dune Complex, Aeolian Plain, Fluvio-
aeolian plain, Palaeochannel and Younger Alluvial
Plain formed by aeolian, fluvio-aeolian, and fluvial
processes. These palaeochannels are first time
B.S. Chaudhary (
) . S. Aggarwal1
Department of Geophysics,
Kurukshetra University,
Kurukshetra – 136119, Haryana, India
1
Institute of Seismological Research,
Gandhi Nagar – 382018, Gujarat, India
email : bsgeokuk@gmail.com
123
demarcated in the area. The ground water prospects
of various geomorphic units have been assessed.
Depth to water level and ground water quality maps
were digitized and put in to GIS format. Ground water
prospects and quality maps were integrated and
depth to water level information was draped on it to
prepare final integrated ground water resources map.
This map depicts ground water prospects, quality
and depth together in a single map, which will help
in and ground water exploration.
Introduction
Water is a dynamic renewable natural resource, its
availability with good quality and proper quantity in
appropriate time and space is of significant
importance for human life. As a result of population
explosion, urbanization and deforestation, there is
continuous pressure on water. Because of over-
drafting and inadequate recharge, water table is
declining at many places, even accompanied by
252
deterioration in quality. In the recent years, satellite
remote sensing (RS) and Geographic Information
System (GIS) are used in groundwater investigations.
GIS is useful in preparing different composite maps
by integrating data available in a variety of thematic
information layers.
Although groundwater information through
satellite data and aerial photographs is an indirect
approach and complex job, but when it is integrated
with field data, one can get a fairly accurate idea
about groundwater conditions of the area. Such
studies have been successfully used in India and
abroad by many authors (Roy, 1979; Roy, 1996;
Chaudhary et al., 1996; Reddy et al., 1996; Ravindran
and Jeyram, 1997; Abdur Rahman et al., 1998;
Chaudhary 2003; Gopinath and Seralathan, 2004).
Fig. 1 Location map of the area.
J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260
Description of the area
The Hisar district (28°53’45" to 29°49’15" N latitudes
and 75°13’15" to 76°18’15" E longitudes) forms a part
of the Indo-Gangetic alluvial plain and occupies an
area of 3788 km2 (Fig. 1). Total area under study is
844 km2 comprising of southwestern part of Hisar
district covered by 44 O/8 and 44 O/12 Survey of
India topographic maps.
The area is nearly flat, with imperceptible slopes,
except for the regions in and around the sand dunes
locally called tibbas. Hisar district comprises of three
major geomorphic units i.e. aeolian plain, older
alluvial plain and younger flood plain. Other
geomorphic features are sand dune, dune complexes,
plains and Palaeochannels, etc. The western and
J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260
southwestern parts are affected by aeolian activity,
comprising of sandy accumulations. The soils of
the districts are referred to as alluvial and aeolian
soils and fall into three categories – viz., Entisols,
Inceptisols and Aridisols. The Entisols are immature
and young soils that lack any diagnostic horizon
and are encountered in aeolian and recent flood
plains. These soils are classified as Ustipsamments.
The inceptisols are characterized by an ochric
epipedon and cambic/calcic sub-surface horizons.
These are the most common soils occurring in the
area, which are mostly classified as Haplustepts.
Aridisols are usually dry soils and are found in
the study area are classified as Camborthids/
Torripsamments (District Gazetteer, Hisar district,
Haryana).
Hisar district experiences sub-tropical climate
which is influenced by westerly winds in summer
months raising temperature as high as 48°C, whereas,
in winter north-westerly cold winds provide low
temperature touching even 0°C. May and June are
the hottest months. After the withdrawal of
Fig. 2 Satellite image of the area (IRS 1C LISS III Dec. 2001).
253
monsoon in the later half of September, the
temperature begins to decrease. December and
January are the coldest months. The average rainfall
in the district is 334.4 mm. About 85% of annual
rainfall is received during the short southwestern
monsoon period. The mean monthly relative humidity
ranges from 38% in the month of May to 94% in the
month of December. Hot winds and high velocity
dust storms are quite common during summer
months (District Gazetteer, Hisar district, Haryana).
Materials and methodology
Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1D), LISS-III,
digital data of December 21, 2001 Path: 94 and Row:
51 was used in the present study. Survey of India
Toposheet Nos. 44 O/12 & O/8 covers the area on
1:50,000 scale. Satellite Image of the area is shown
in Fig. 2. Ancillary data on depth to water table and
quality was collected from Ground Water Cell,
Department of Agriculture (Govt. of Haryana), Hisar.
254
The methodology consists of pre-field geo-
morphological interpretation of the digital data after
preprocessing, geo-rectification and stretching. Main
emphasis was to enhance the ground water worthy
features such as palaeochannels. Pre-field geo-
morphological map was prepared with the help of
monoscopic interpretation of satellite imagery and on
screen digitization by demarcating various land-
forms. Critical and ambiguous areas inferred during
prefield interpretation, were selected for field checks.
Post field corrections were carried out by
incorporating the field data. Final maps of geo-
morphology, ground water prospects, ground water
quality and depth were prepared. These maps were
digitized and put in to GIS environment after error
removal, editing, topology building and labelling.
Ground water prospect map was integrated with
water quality map. Attributes were attached to the
units and dissolve command was carried out in GIS
to remove common boundaries between similar
polygons. Depth to water table map has been draped
on this map, leading to Integrated Ground Water
Resources (IGWR) map.
Results and discussion
Geology of the area
Geologically, the Balsamand area has been
considered as a major zone of aeolian plain, dune
complex and younger alluvium belonging to the
Drishdawati River. Quaternary formations comprise
of fluvial and aeolian deposits covering the entire
region. The aeolian deposits, which are characterized
by sand dunes, are confined to the southern part.
Calcareous concretions (nodules) are also found at
places but in minor proportions. The alluvial
sediments are heterogeneous in character. The
quaternary alluvium is deposited on a basement of
metamorphic and igneous rocks of the Precambrian
age.
J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260
Geomorphology of the area
Geomorphologically, the area has been classified into
three main units based on the genesis and
characteristics. They are formed mainly due to
alluvial, fluvio-aeolian and aeolian activity. The
geomorphic sub-units mapped are alluvial plain,
fluvio-aeolian plain, aeolian plain, dune complex,
sand dunes and palaeochannels. The unit fluvio-
aeolian plain is result of both fluvial and aeolian
activity where as aeolian sand is deposited on
alluvial plain as a result of migration of sand by wind.
The Geomorphological map of the area is shown in
Fig. 3.
Hydrogeomorphological description of various
units
Hydrogeomorphologically the area exhibits varied
conditions due to its location, geology and
topography. The major part of the study area is
occupied by aeolian plain and dune complexes.
There is no perennial river in the study area.
Availability of ground water in fluvio-aeolian plain
and aeolian plain is good to moderate (Table 1).
Ground water prospects map is shown in Fig. 4.
Depth to water level map
The area is facing problems related to use of ground
water due to poor quality and at places due to
greater depth of ground water. The water table in the
area varies from 3 meters to >25 meters below ground
level (BGL) in various parts. The major part of the
study area comes under 10–25 meter (BGL) and
occupies almost the entire central portion. Water
table in the east and northern part varies from 3–10
meters. The depths to water level maps for June and
October 2003 of the area are shown in Figs. 5 and 6,
respectively. The maps show two zones in June and
three zones in October. The rise of water table in the
zone of 3–10 meters in June to 1.5–3 meters in
October is due to recharge of ground water in some
pockets during rainy season (in monsoon period).
The area under different zones in both seasons is
given in Table 2.
J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260 255

Fig. 3 Geomorphology map.

Fig. 4 Ground water prospects map.

256 J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260

Fig. 5 Depth to water level map (June 2003).

Fig. 6 Depth to water level map (October 2003).

J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260 257

Table 1 Description of hydrogeomorphological units

Geomorphic unit/ Description Ground water Area % of

sub-units prospects (km2) total area
Aeolian origin
Sand Dunes Isolated sand dune comprising of wind blown sand Poor 1 0*
Dune Complex Colony of sand dunes comprising of recent wind
blown sand under cultivation Poor 264 31
Aeolian Plain Unconsolidated fine to coarse sand and silt spreading
over vast area having light brown to tan-buff colour Moderate 240 28
Fluvio-Aeolian origin
Fluvio- Fluvial deposits of fine to medium size sand, silt Moderate to 186 22
Aeolian Plain and clay along with wind blown sands Good
Fluvial origin
Palaeochannel Abandoned river channels buried under aeolian/ Excellent 58 7
alluvial sand which are slightly low lying having
sinuous pattern and surrounded by eroded low
height natural levees
Younger Alluvial Gently undulating plain consisting of clay, silt, Good 95 11
Plain fine to coarse sand with intense cultivation
* The actual percentage of this category is 11% which has been rounded off.

Table 2 Area under various ground water depth zones Integrated ground water resources map
June, 2003 October, 2003 Ground water prospects map has been integrated
Depth BGL Area % of Area % of with ground water quality map in the first instance.
(in meters) (km2) total area (km2) total area The categories have been decided based on the
1.5 – 3.0 ----- ----- 22 3 prospects and quality. Depth to water level map has
3 – 10 281 33 283 34 been draped on this map, thereby resulting in to
10 – 25 563 67 539 63 Integrated Ground Water Resources (IGWR) map
(Chaudhary, 2003). The final map shows eight
categories and are given in Table 4. Category No.8
Ground water quality map
is the representative of poor quality irrespective of
The ground water quality assessment is as important prospects. IGWR map basically represents both
as prospects in the areas, facing the problem of prospects and ground water quality. Depth to water
ground water quality. The usability of available level map has been draped on it thereby giving an
ground water depends on its chemical, physical and idea about prospects, quality and depth in a single
bacterial properties. The criteria given here is the one map. This map is shown in Fig. 8.
used by the Ground Water Cell, Department of It is found that about 64% of the area is under
Agriculture, Haryana and is basically suited for poor or marginal quality with poor prospects. This
irrigation ground water quality. The map is shown in area is along almost north–south direction and also
Fig. 7. The area under different quality zones is given in southern part. Most of the area in northern part
in Table 3. Total area has been divided in to four shows good quality. The palaeo-channels shown in
categories based on the electrical conductivity (EC). the study area in central portion can prove very
258 J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260

Fig. 7 Ground water quality map.

Fig. 8 Integrated ground water resources map.

J. Indian Soc. Remote Sens. (June 2009) 37:251–260 259

good source for further ground water exploration, of the area (about 64%) falls under marginal to poor
which can fulfill the requirements of the nearby ground water quality, which makes it more pertinent
villages for drinking as well as irrigation purposes. to manage the good quality water resources of the
It seems that the saline/marginal water from the area in a proper manner. An attempt should be made
surrounding areas has intruded even the palaeo- for rainwater water harvesting to recharge ground
channels in eastern and southwestern parts which water. Efficient irrigation methods coupled with
need immediate attention for detailed investigations. massive mass education and awareness programs
about water conservation practices be opted in the
area even by engaging NGO’s. The Palaeochannels
Table 3 Area under various ground water quality
categories demarcated in the area will also prove very useful
for ground water recharge, as recharge from a single
Electrical Quality Area % of point can recharge the entire Palaeochannel zone.
conductivity (km2) total area
The study area shows the presence of palaeo-
(micro mhos/ cm)
channels, which seems to be of the Saraswati or
0–2000 Fresh 271 32 Drishdawati rivers. To ascertain the relation, some
2000–4000 Marginal 281 33 innovative methods of age determination of the water
4000–6000 Saline 23 3 samples should be adopted. Extensive geophysical
>6000 Highly saline 269 32 resistivity survey should be conducted at closely
spaced places across the palaeochannels for
identifying under ground geological structure. These
Table 4 Zones of fresh water availability
will help in understanding the ground water regime
Descriptions Area % of and its dynamics in detail. Therefore, it needs
Quality Prospects (km2) total area integrated approach of RS, GIS, GPS, Geophysical
Good Excellent 21 2
Resistivity and Radio Isotope dating.
Good Good 9 1
Good Moderate 241 29 Acknowledgements The authors gratefully
Good Poor 1 0.0 acknowledge Jitendra Prasad, the then Chief
Marginal Excellent 32 4 Scientist, G.P. Saroha and Manoj Yadav, HARSAC,
Marginal Good 21 2 Hisar for providing facilities and help during this
Marginal Moderate 227 27 work.
Poor Any 292 35
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