Geomorphological Classification of Western Western Doon of Dehra, Uttarakhand (India)

Abstract

Morphological units are those sections of landforms, which have uniform morphological property. The identification of morphological or terrain units is an exercise of regional classification of terrain with similar properties on varying scales. Morpho units enable the planners to determine land use planning, infrastructure development and natural resource management. Such type of terrain classification also highlights the hazardous unit, particularly in mountainous areas. Doon of Dehra is an important geomorphic unit in terms of both natural and cultural point of view. Dehradun, which is the capital city of Uttarakhand is also situated in this geomorphic unit. So, it becomes important to delineate the unit in smaller geomorphic units for proper land use planning and infrastructural development and to mitigate the hazards as well. Topographical sheets published by the government of India are the database of study. In the present study ‘principle component analysis’ based on the centroid method of Holziger and Herman (1941) has been adopted as this is manageable manually. The components, like - relief, drainage derivatives and slope has been taken for meso and micro level division of area into morpho units. The study area consists of 4 major morpho units and 28 micro units.