Geo-Eye
Department of Geography & GIS
Department of Geography & GIS
Geo-Eye
DOI: 10.53989/bu.ge.v15.i1.26.10
Year: 2026, Volume: 15, Issue: 1, Pages: 23-31
Original Article
Aparna 1*, Ashok D Hanjagi2
1Research Scholar, Department of Geography, Bangalore University, Bengaluru – 560056, Karnataka, India.
2Senior Professor, Department of Geography, Bangalore University, Bengaluru – 560056, Karnataka, India.
*Corresponding author
Email: [email protected]
Received Date:27 July 2026, Accepted Date:07 August 2026
Morphometric analysis of river basins provides vital quantitative information for understanding watershed characteristics, hydrological behaviour, and geomorphic evolution, which are essential for sustainable water and land resource management. The present study evaluates the morphometric and hypsometric characteristics of the Karanja River Basin, a right-bank tributary of the Godavari River in peninsular India, using remote sensing and GIS techniques. ALOS PALSAR DEM data with 12.5 m spatial resolution were employed to delineate the basin and extract linear, areal, and relief morphometric parameters following standard methods proposed by Horton, Strahler, and Schumm. The basin covers an area of 2953.03 km² and exhibits a well-developed seventh-order drainage network. The mean bifurcation ratio (4.31) indicates minimal structural disturbance, while drainage density (2.05 km/km²) and stream frequency (2.57 km⁻²) suggest moderate runoff and infiltration capacity. Areal parameters, including circulatory ratio (0.22), elongation ratio (0.49), and form factor (0.19), reveal elongated basin geometry, favourable for reduced peak discharge and enhanced flood regulation. Hypsometric analysis yielded a hypsometric integral value of 0.50, indicating that the basin is in a mature or equilibrium geomorphic stage with moderate erosion and active denudational processes. Overall, the results highlight a moderately dissected and evolving landscape, providing valuable insights for watershed prioritization, erosion control, and sustainable river basin management.
Keywords: Morphometric analysis, Hypsometric curve, Remote Sensing & GIS, Karanja River Basin
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© 2026 Aparna & Hanjagi. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Published By Bangalore University, Bengaluru, Karnataka
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