Geomorphological analysis and prioritization of sub-watersheds using Snyder\u2019s synthetic unit hydrograph method

Nivedita Singh,K K Singh

doi:10.1007/s13201-014-0243-1

Abstract

The present study makes an attempt to prioritize sub-watersheds based on Snyder’s synthetic unit hydrograph method. Snyder’s method of synthetic unit hydrograph calculates peak discharge and lag time of the unit hydrograph for each sub-watersheds. Compound values of ranking are calculated from assigned rankings to parameters, viz. peak discharge and lag time. Depending on the range of the compound values sub-watersheds are classified as high, medium and low soil-erosive sub-watersheds. The priorities obtained from Snyder’s synthetic unit hydrograph method are compared with the methods of morphometric analysis and land use/land cover analysis. On comparison of priorities for Dangri River watershed, Panchkula District, Haryana (India), among the three methods it was found that the sub-watershed (SW1) has the same priority. Among all the three methods, Snyder’s synthetic unit hydrograph is a better method, as it is easier to use and less data intensive.

Highlights

The sustainable management of fresh water is a major challenge of the twenty-first century
Recent studies (Pandey et al 2007; Yoshino and Ishioka 2005; Sharma et al 2001; Khan et al 2001; Sidhu et al 1998) revealed that remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques are of great use in characterization and prioritization of watershed areas using land use/land cover methods (Kulkarni et al 2014; Waikar and Nilawar 2014; Warrier and Manjula 2014)
The synthetic unit hydrographs are developed on the basis of known physical characteristics of gauged watershed which is identical hydrologically and meteorologically to the watershed whose rainfall and runoff data are not available

Summary

Introduction

The sustainable management of fresh water is a major challenge of the twenty-first century. Recent studies (Pandey et al 2007; Yoshino and Ishioka 2005; Sharma et al 2001; Khan et al 2001; Sidhu et al 1998) revealed that remote sensing (RS) and geographic information system (GIS) techniques are of great use in characterization and prioritization of watershed areas using land use/land cover methods (Kulkarni et al 2014; Waikar and Nilawar 2014; Warrier and Manjula 2014). Use of land use/land cover method is often severely limited by the lack of adequate data, in developing nations. Dangri River watershed is situated in Raipur Rani block of Panchkula District in Haryana (India), covers an area of. Limited ground truth verification was carried out in some areas of the watershed

Materials and methods

Method of morphometric analysis

Result and discussion

Conclusion