Groundwater recharge potential zones mapping in upper Manimuktha Sub basin Vellar river Tamil Nadu India using GIS and remote sensing techniques

An attempt has been made to assess the groundwater recharge potential zones in Upper Manimuktha sub basin, Vellar river, Tamil Nadu. Groundwater recharge denotes to the entry of water from the unsaturated zone into the saturated zone below the water table surface, together with the associated movement away from the water table within the saturated zone. This study mainly focus the many factors that control the occurrence and movement of groundwater in a hardrock region including topography, Geology, lineament, drainage patterns, land use/land cover, slope and soil. Using remote sensing and Geographic Information System it is possible to take number of different thematic maps of the area and overlay form a new integrated layer. The integrated map reveals about the groundwater recharge potential zones of the area and classified into five categories which represents very low to Very good Groundwater Recharge Potential Zones (GWRPZ). Downstream areas as well as waterbodies fall in the very high GWRPZ (12.4 km2) indicates high infiltration and low runoff. Then followed by high GWRPZ (115.74 km2) indicate these area maximum covered by agricultural land (57.99 km2) as well as fallow land (85.41 km2), so the infiltration high. In the poor (125.28 km2) and very low GWRPZ (82.61 km2) mainly fall in the hilly terrain as well as in the waste, barren and buildup land of the study area. Based on the GWRPZ study indicate 34.4 % of the rainwater infiltrate in the ground of the entire study area. © 2016, Springer International Publishing Switzerland.