Assessment of groundwater level fluctuation by using remote sensing and GIS in West Bokaro coalfield, Jharkhand, India

Abstract

West Bokaro coalfield is mostly affected by active mining industries and faces acute shortage of portable surface water and thus, people are very much dependent on groundwater. The objective of this paper is to assess the parameters which have significant impact on groundwater level fluctuation in West Bokaro coalfield by using remote sensing, GIS, and field-based water level data for two seasons. The objective is achieved by preparation of thematic maps of parameters which have significant impact on groundwater level fluctuation viz. geology, drainage map, soil map, slope map, and elevation map using digital elevation model and Survey of India Toposheet in GIS and analyzed with respect to field-collected groundwater level data to determine the overall water level situation of the study area. Based on results and discussion, it has been found that northwest, southwest, and central region of the study area show higher water level fluctuation (WLF) whereas northeast and southeast region have shown lower WLF. Thus, the study have shown that there is definite relationship of WLF with above-mentioned parameters which are physically related to slope and elevation, lithologically related to geology, texturally related to soil, and hydrologeologically related to drainage pattern.