Assessment of groundwater potential zones of tons basin using spatial data

The Tons basin is the subbasin of the river Ganga having its geographical extent of 80°18’ to 83°20’ east longitude and 23°58’ to 25°17’ north latitudes of the country. The major river in this sub-basin. Tons is the longest tributary of Yamuna river. Total basin area in Madhya Pradesh is 11974 km². Total land put to use for agriculture purpose in Tons basin is 8460 km²;. State of Madhya Pradesh has varied hydrogeological characteristics due to which ground water potential differs from place to place. An attempt has been made to delineate the groundwater potential zone of the Tons basin using spatial data. For delineation of groundwater potential zones, thematic maps of different governing themes of groundwater potential zone such as geology, drainage, drainage density, Land use/Land cover, slope, soil texture have been created to their relative importance. A multicriteria decision analysis technique i.e., Analytical Hierarchy process (AHP) technique have been used for the probable weightage of different governing themes. Weighted index overlay analysis tool in ArcGIS 10.3 have been used for the creation for groundwater potential zone. The resultant map demonstrates possible groundwater potential zone of the Tons basin under three categories such as Good groundwater potential, moderate groundwater potential and poor groundwater potential. From the study it was concluded that, delineation of groundwater potential zones helpful for the information of groundwater prospective zone, extraction and development of groundwater and better planning and management.

• This study conducted in Tons basin of Madhya Pradesh state, India to delineate the groundwater prospect zones using spatial data.

• Overexploitation and further declination of groundwater in Tons basin causes need to delineation of groundwater potential zone.

• In this study, we employed maximum five paraments governing the groundwater potential zone.