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Comparison of Multi Influence Factor, Weight of Evidence and Frequency Ratio Techniques To Evaluate Groundwater Potential Zones of Basaltic Aquifer Systems
Comparison of Multi Influence Factor, Weight of Evidence and Frequency Ratio Techniques To Evaluate Groundwater Potential Zones of Basaltic Aquifer Systems
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-021-01535-5
Nitin L. Rane1 · Geetha K. Jayaraj2
Received: 11 September 2020 / Accepted: 19 May 2021 / Published online: 25 May 2021
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2021
Abstract
Groundwater is the largest available reservoir of freshwater. But the rapid increase in the
population and urbanisation, has led to over exploitation of groundwater which imposed
tremendous pressure on global groundwater resources. Because of the hidden and dynamic
nature of groundwater, it requires appropriate quantification for the formulation of ground-
water planning and management strategies. The present study evaluates the efficacy of
geospatial technology based Multi Influence Factor (MIF), Weight of Evidence (WofE)
and Frequency Ratio (FR) technique to evaluate groundwater potential using a case study
of basaltic terrain. The thematic layers influencing the groundwater occurrence viz. rain-
fall, slope, geomorphology, soil type, land use, drainage density, lineament density, and
elevation were prepared using satellite images, hydrologic, hydrogeologic and relevant
field data. Based on the conceptual frameworks of MIF, WofE and FR techniques these
thematic layers and their features were assigned with appropriate weight and then inte-
grated in the ArcGIS platform for the generation of aggregated raster layer which portray
the groundwater potential zones. The results of validation showed that the groundwater
potential delineated using MIF technique has a prediction accuracy of 81.94%, followed by
WofE technique (76.19%) and FR techniques (71.43%). It is concluded that for evaluation
of groundwater potential, the MIF technique is most reliable, followed by the WofE tech-
nique. The evaluated groundwater potential zones are useful as a scientific guide to identify
the suitable location of wells and recharge structure in a cost-efficient way and also for the
development of structured and pragmatic groundwater management strategies.
* Nitin L. Rane
nitinrane33@gmail.com
Geetha K. Jayaraj
jayaraj.geetha@gmail.com
1
Department of Civil Engineering, Pillai HOC College of Engineering and Technology,
New Mumbai, India
2
Shivajirao S Jondhle College of Engg & Technology, Asangaon, Thane, India
13
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2316 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
1 Introduction
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Comparison of multi‑influence factor, weight of evidence and… 2317
1.1 Study Area
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2318 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
Fig. 1 Location of the study area with rain gauge station and elevation
1.2 Hydrogeology
Geologically the study area is covered by basaltic lava flows from Upper Cretaceous to
Eocene age and contains aa and pahoehoe lava flows of basaltic structure (GSI, 2001).
Weathered and fractured units underlain by massive basalt units serve as the main aquifer
system in study area. The aquifer has lack of primary porosity but possesses secondary
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Comparison of multi‑influence factor, weight of evidence and… 2319
porosity due to fractured and weathered basalt. The upper weathered and fractured units
comprise the unconfined aquifers, and the occurrence of groundwater is in unconfined con-
dition. The groundwater occurrence at a deep level is under the semi-confined to confined
condition (CGWB 2014). The unconfined aquifer is mainly limited to fractured basalt, and
moderately weathered basalt and the main groundwater source to the large diameter wells.
The basaltic aquifer possesses high heterogeneity in nature and varies over the small dis-
tance because of difference in structural features, texture and lithology. The semi-confined
to confined aquifer is primarily composed of fractured jointed amygdular and vesicular
basalt of considerable thickness and it has developed into semi-confined to confined con-
dition. Groundwater exists in the pore spaces of interconnected vesicular units and in the
jointed and fractured units of a massive basalt of individual flow (Rane & Jayaraj, 2021).
Groundwater levels in the study area vary from 0.85 to 13.36 m below ground level (bgl)
in the weathered residuum which is tapping by the hand dug wells, whereas deep fractured
basalt is tapping by the borewells.
1.3 Water issues
From this current study, it is observed that 986.07 k m2 area falls under the agricultural land
which is coming as 57.83% of the whole area taken up for the study and it is apparent that
agricultural practices are supported by groundwater and surface water. In many cases, the
supply of surface water is associated with precipitation leading to excessive availability of
water in monsoon period and shortage in the subsequent dry period. Moreover, the ground-
water level in the dry period ranges 2.40–13.36 m (bgl), and post-monsoon groundwater
level ranges 0.85–10.36 m (bgl). The seasonal fluctuations in groundwater level indicate
substantial aquifer recharge during the monsoon season. In dry season, canal network is
unable to supply sufficient water for intensive crops; therefore, water scarcity issues are
severe in dry season, because groundwater is only feasible water resource in such a sit-
uation. This situation results in the increase in the number of wells that exacerbate the
groundwater depletion in the study area. In addition, groundwater availability is limited
in the study area due to the basaltic aquifer, that has low storage capacities. According to
CGWB (2014), the groundwater development stage for two talukas located in the study
area, namely Niphad and Chandwad, are classified as semi-critical areas in which the stage
of groundwater development is 84% and 89%, respectively. This indicates the study area
is using 84% and 89% of the groundwater resources in the Niphad and Chandwad talukas
respectively. In addition, the demand for groundwater increased in recent years because of
the change in population and expansion of agriculture in the study area (Wagh et al., 2017).
These situations illustrate the need of sustainable groundwater management in the study
area.
2 Material and methodology
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2320 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
of field observed and geospatial data and also by consideration of effects of the factors, the
factors which influence the groundwater potential were chosen to evaluate the groundwater
potential through geospatial technology-based MIF, WofE and FR techniques. In the pre-
sent study, eight hydrologic and hydrogeologic factors were selected to evaluate groundwa-
ter potential, and for each factor, the thematic layer was prepared. The daily rainfall data of
six rain gauge station were collected from Department of Water Resources, Maharashtra
and used to prepare the map of rainfall. The annual precipitation data of 18 years were
averaged and assigned to each rain gauge station for the preparation of rainfall map. The
30 m Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) DEM data were used for the generation
of slope, drainage density and elevation maps through the ArcGIS spatial analyst tool. The
toposheets acquired from Survey of India were used to digitize the lakes and rivers in the
study area as well as verified using Landsat-8 imagery. The soil type map was acquired
from FAO global soil data map (http://www.fao.org). The land use map was prepared in
ERDAS Imagine 2015 software using supervised classification. In addition to above geo-
spatial data, discharge data were collected from the 72 pumping wells. Figure 4 shows the
location of the pumping wells in study area.
In order to identify and delineate the groundwater potential zones, thematic layers of soil
type, drainage density, rainfall, elevation, lineament, geomorphology, land use, and slope
were used which influence the groundwater occurrence. In the present study, three tech-
niques, namely Multi Influence Factor (MIF) technique, Weight of Evidence (WofE) and
Frequency Ratio (FR) technique were used and comparatively evaluated to identify and
delineate the groundwater potential zones with high prediction accuracy in the study area.
The prediction accuracy is found out by using the number of wells agreed for the actual
groundwater yield data divided by the total number of wells. These three techniques briefly
described in the following sections.
2.2.1 MIF technique
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Fig. 3 Interrelation among the multiple influence factors of groundwater potential in the study area
where Ej is major interrelation between two factors and Ei is minor interrelation between
two factors.
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2322 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
The calculated relative weights are considered as the weights of corresponding fea-
tures. After computation of weights, rating classification for each feature was performed
by dividing the weight ( Wi ) by the number of features in each factor, as well as based on
heuristic approach of information on the conditions influencing the groundwater potential.
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The influencing factors assigned with weights and ranks were aggregated through follow-
ing formula.
Groundwater potential index = (LUW × LUr ) + (RFW × RFr )
+(ELW × ELr ) + (LIW × LIr )
(2)
+(SOW × SOr ) + (GW × Gr )
+(DDW × DDr ) + (SLW × SLr )
2.3 WofE technique
2.3.1 FR technique
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2324 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
area was prepared in which 51 were utilized as training wells and 21 wells to verify
results, as shown in Fig. 4. The thematic layers which influence groundwater occurrence
were superimposed over the training wells map, and FR value in each feature was com-
puted using the Eq. 5:
P∕Q
FR = (5)
R∕S
where P—number of wells present in each feature of the influencing factor; Q—num-
ber of total wells in study area; R—number of pixels present in each feature of the influ-
encing factor and, S—number of total pixels in study area. (Fig. 5).
After calculating FR, the groundwater potential map was created by summing up FR
values of each influencing factor and their features using the Eq. 6.
n
∑
Ground water potential index = FR (6)
i=1
where FR—final weight for the FR technique and n refer to the number of total factors.
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3 Results and discussion
The characterization of thematic layers was performed by classifying their features into appro-
priate groups that helpful for interpretation of their influence in the occurrence of groundwa-
ter. The features of eight influencing factors are described below, and the area occupied by
each feature is shown in Table 2. The study area experiences an average annual rainfall rang-
ing from 600 to 786 mm. The study area was clustered into five zones based on average annual
rainfall. Figure 6 revealed that the East-South portion of the basin receive lowest amount of
rainfall and western part experiences the highest rainfall. It is apparent from the slope map
that there is a steep slope (> 15.62°) present in the Northern mountains of the basin. As far as
concerned the ground water occurrence, this portion is considered as having poor groundwa-
ter potential because the water flows downward quickly and there is no time for infiltration.
From Fig. 11 it is discernible that, the East-South portion of the basin has almost flat topog-
raphy having 0–2.64% slope that indicates a favourable condition for groundwater potential.
The remaining part has an undulating topography which contributes to a slope of 2.6415.62°.
The thematic layer of drainage density in Fig. 10 indicates that about 66% of the area falls in
the drainage density of 0–0.77 km/km2 and considered as moderate and good for groundwater
potential. High drainage density results in the high runoff, indicating reduced infiltration and
therefore poor groundwater occurrence.
Lineament is associated with the secondary permeability in the basin. In order to determine
the lineament concentration in the study area the lineament density analysis was performed.
From Fig. 7 it is apparent that the lineament density varies from 0–0.09 km/km2 in the study
area whereas the density varies from 0.09–1.40 km/km2, found in patches in north-western
portion. The higher lineament density is associated with the good groundwater occurrence.
The land use in study area is agricultural land (57.83%), vegetation (4.81%), water bodies
(3.70%), barren land (26.79%), and settlements (6.87%) (Fig. 5). Areas with a large num-
ber of concrete constructions and built-up areas are poor for groundwater occurrence due to
higher surface runoff, whereas agricultural land is good for groundwater occurrence because
of the availability of loose soil on the land. The clayey soil dominating in the study area, is
shown in Fig. 8 and is mostly seen on the land having gentle slope. Loam soil is present in the
higher elevations and inter hill basins. The loam soil is considered good for the groundwater
occurrence.
The topographic elevation in the study area is shown in Fig. 1. The study area has elevation
less than 615 m above mean sea level (AMSL) in the East-South parts, whereas the elevation
more than 733 m AMSL in the Northern portion as shown in Fig. 1. The high-altitudes results
in the poor groundwater potential since water flows towards the low altitude. The thematic
layer of geomorphology is shown in Fig. 9. The study area predominantly occupied by plateau
encompassing 90% of study area. The alluvium is observed along the middle course of river
covering about 1.5% of the area and structural and denudational hills occupying about 8.5% of
study area. (Figs. 10, 11).
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2326 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
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Comparison of multi‑influence factor, weight of evidence and… 2327
4.1 MIF technique
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2328 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
4.1.1 WofE technique
Table 4 presents the number of pixels and wells in each feature of the influencing factor.
The computation of WofE ( W+) and WofE probability (W+P) for each feature of thematic
layer is computed using Eq. (3 and 4). The value obtained for W+ and W +P for all the-
matic layers is tabulated and presented in Table 5. Finally, eight hydrologic and hydrogeo-
logic influencing factor were integrated in ArcGIS platform to delineate the groundwater
potential. Based on the groundwater potential, the study area was clustered into four zones,
namely ‘poor’, ‘moderate’, ‘good’, and ‘very good’ as shown in Fig. 13. According to the
groundwater potential delineated using WofE technique, 8.12% and 48.39% of area falls
under ‘poor’ and ‘moderate’ groundwater potential respectively. The 28.77% of study area
falling under ‘good’ groundwater potential while about 14.72% area falling under ‘very
good’ potential respectively.
4.1.2 FR technique
Referring Table 4, the number of pixels and wells in each feature of the influencing factor
are employed to compute FR value of each feature. The FR for each feature is computed
using Eq. 5 and presented in Table 5. Finally, eight hydrologic and hydrogeologic factors
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Comparison of multi‑influence factor, weight of evidence and… 2329
which influence the groundwater occurrence were aggregated in ArcGIS platform to delin-
eate groundwater potential. The identified groundwater potential further clustered into four
zones (Fig. 14). The ‘poor’ and ‘moderate’ groundwater potential are covering 7.83%, and
49.05% respectively of study area. Nearly 29.08% and 14.04% of study area are coming
under ‘good’ and ‘very good’ potential respectively.
The verification of MIF technique through the yield data of 72 pumping wells shows that
3 ‘very high discharge’ (> 6 lps) wells out of 4 wells falls under ‘very good’ groundwater
potential and 32 ‘high discharge’ (4–6 lps) wells out of 34 wells falls under ‘good’ ground-
water potential. Moreover, 24 out of 33 ‘medium discharge’ (2–4 lps) wells falling under
‘moderate’ potential and no well out of 1 ‘low discharge’ (< 2 lps) well falling under ‘poor’
potential. The number of wells that agreed with the actual yield are 59, and the number of
pumping wells that disagreed with the actual yield are 13. Thus, the accuracy of prediction
using MIF technique is 81.94%.
The verification of WofE and FR technique was carried out through the yield data of
21 verification wells. The verification of WofE technique reveals that 1 out of 1 ‘very high
discharge’ well falls under ‘very good’ potential zone and 7 out of 8 ‘high discharge’ wells
under ‘good’ potential zone. While 8 out of 11 ‘medium discharge’ wells falling under
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2330 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
‘moderate’ potential, and no well out of 1 ‘low discharge’ well falls under ‘poor’ potential
zone. The number of wells that agreed with actual yield are 16 and the number of wells
that disagreed with actual yield are 5. Thus, the accuracy of prediction using WofE model
is 76.19%.
The verification of FR technique reveals that 1 out of 1 ‘very high discharge’ wells falls
under ‘very good’ groundwater potential and 8 out of 8 ‘high discharge’ wells falls under
‘good’ potential. While, 6 out of 11 ‘medium discharge’ wells fall under ‘moderate’ poten-
tial, and no well out of 1 ‘low discharge’ well fall under ‘poor’ potential. The number of
wells that agreed with the actual yield are 15 and number of wells that disagreed with the
actual yield are 6. Thus, the accuracy of prediction using FR model is 71.43%.
The groundwater potential identified and delineated using MIF technique indicated that
‘poor’ groundwater potential covering 9.27% of the study area due to steep slopes and dis-
sected mountains are present in these areas, ‘moderate’ potential 47.72%, ‘good’ poten-
tial 30.17%, and ‘very good’ potential encompassing 12.84% of the study area. While the
groundwater potential delineated using WofE technique revealed that 8.12% of area has
‘poor’ potential, 48.39% ‘moderate’ potential, 28.77% ‘good’ potential and 14.72% ‘very
good’ potential. Moreover, the groundwater potential delineated using FR technique indi-
cated that 7.83% of the area falling under ‘poor’ potential, 49.05% of the area falls in the
‘moderate’ zone, 29.08% of the area falling under ‘good’ potential and 14.04% ‘very good’
potential. The main difference in the geospatial prediction is identified in poor zone of the
study area because there were no pumping wells in this zone. It is worth to note, that the
absence and presence of pumping wells influence the prediction of groundwater potential
in WofE technique, while the MIF technique only depends on the hydrologic and hydro-
geologic factors. Thus, the reliability of MIF technique is higher than the WofE and FR
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Comparison of multi‑influence factor, weight of evidence and… 2331
technique. Among the WofE and FR technique, the WofE technique outperformed than FR
technique. Therefore, it is recommended to use MIF technique to identify and delineate
groundwater potential zones. The WofE technique can be used as an alternate technique in
study area. Considering the requirement of pumping well data over the basin, the applica-
tion of WofE technique is limited, particularly in the regions where the data is scarce.
5 Conclusions
The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of geospatial tech-
nology-based MIF, WofE and FR techniques to predict groundwater potential of the basal-
tic aquifer system. The study considered the eight hydrological and hydrogeological factors
which influence the occurrence of groundwater. According to framework of these three
geospatial based techniques, thematic layers and their feature were assigned with suitable
weights and then these thematic layers were integrated into the ArcGIS platform. The pre-
dicted groundwater potential using the MIF technique showed ‘poor’ groundwater poten-
tial encompassing about 9.27% of study area, ‘moderate’ potential zone 47.72%, ‘good’
potential zone 30.17%, and ‘very good’ potential zone covering 12.84% of study area. In
comparison, predicted groundwater prospect using WofE method revealed that 8.12% of
area falling under ‘poor’ groundwater potential, 48.39% ‘moderate’ potential zone, 28.77%
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2332 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
‘good’ potential zone and 14.72% ‘very good’ potential zone. Moreover, the predicted
groundwater potential using FR technique indicated that 7.83% of the area falling under
‘poor’ potential, 49.05% of area falling under ‘moderate’ potential, 29.08% of area fall-
ing under ‘good’ potential and 14.04% ‘very good’ potential. The validation showed that
the MIF technique has 81.94% prediction accuracy, followed by WofE technique (76.19%)
and FR technique (71.43%). Therefore, the MIF technique surpasses the WofE and FR
techniques.
It is concluded that the MIF technique is a most effective technique to evaluate the
groundwater potential zones on a large scale compared to WofE and FR techniques,
although the WofE technique performance somewhat comparable to the MIF technique.
Therefore, in order to obtain more reliable results, it is recommended to use MIF technique
to identify and demarcate the groundwater potential zones. If the sufficient data is available
to use WofE and FR technique, the use of WofE technique recommended over the FR tech-
nique. The delineated groundwater potential zones are useful for understanding the hidden
groundwater resource in study area and for identification of the suitable location of wells
and recharge structure in a cost-efficient way. Furthermore, it can be used to the hydrolo-
gists and planner to develop effective and pragmatic management strategies for addressing
uncertainties and risks associated with groundwater management. The results together with
the demonstrated framework can be reproduced in other basins for assessing the groundwa-
ter potential zones, regardless of hydrogeological conditions.
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Table 3 Assigned weights of the eight influencing factors with normalized weight of each feature
Sr. No Thematic layer Weight Feature of thematic layer Ranking Normalized Total weight
weight
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Table 3 (continued)
2334
Sr. No Thematic layer Weight Feature of thematic layer Ranking Normalized Total weight
weight
13
5 Soil type 8 Loam (Hydrologic soil group C) 8 0.31 0.0385
Clay Loam (Hydrologic soil group D) 5 0.19 0.0240
Clay Loam (Hydrologic soil group C) 6 0.23 0.0288
Clay (Hydrologic soil group D: Clay 51% wt.) 4 0.15 0.0192
Clay (Hydrologic soil group D: Clay 52% wt.) 3 0.12 0.0144
6 Geomorphology 19 Plateau 9 0.23 0.0281
Alluvium 19 0.48 0.0594
Structural Hills 5 0.13 0.0156
Denudational Hills 7 0.18 0.0219
7 Drainage Density (km/km2) 13 0–0.46 5 0.11 0.0139
0.46–0.77 7 0.16 0.0194
0.77–1.06 9 0.20 0.0250
1.06–1.38 11 0.24 0.0306
1.38–2.50 13 0.29 0.0361
8 Slope 11 0–2.64o 11 0.31 0.0393
2.64–6.88o 9 0.26 0.0321
6.88–15.62o 7 0.20 0.0250
15.62–29.66o 5 0.14 0.0179
29.66–67.54o 3 0.09 0.0107
N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
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2336 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
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Table 5 Spatial relationship among each influencing factor using WofE and FR technique
Sr. No Thematic layer Feature of thematic layer Area % Well % W+ W+P FR
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Table 5 (continued)
2338
13
6 Geomorphology Plateau 90.58 96.08 0.0589 0.0000286 1.061
Alluvium 1.22 3.92 1.1713 0.0000868 3.226
Structural Hills 1.02 0.00 0.0000 0.0000269 0.000
Denudational Hills 7.18 0.00 0.0000 0.0000269 0.000
7 Drainage Density (km/km2) 0–0.46 22.17 7.84 − 1.0390 0.0000095 0.354
0.46–0.77 43.80 52.94 0.1897 0.0000325 1.209
0.77–1.06 29.56 33.33 0.1201 0.0000304 1.128
1.06–1.38 4.24 5.88 0.3268 0.0000373 1.386
1.38–2.50 0.23 0.00 0.0000 0.0000269 0.000
8 Slope 0–2.64o 59.51 64.71 0.0838 0.0000293 1.087
2.64–6.88o 33.23 29.41 − 0.1221 0.0000238 0.885
6.88–15.62o 5.25 5.88 0.1135 0.0000302 1.120
15.62–29.66o 1.42 0.00 0.0000 0.0000269 0.000
29.66–67.54o 0.56 0.00 0.0000 0.0000269 0.000
13
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2340 N. L. Rane, G. K. Jayaraj
Declaration
Conflicts of interest None.
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