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INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF CIVIL AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING

Volume 2, No 1, 2011

© Copyright 2010 All rights reserved Integrated Publishing services

Research article ISSN 0976 – 4399

Received on July 2011 published on September2011

205

Response of hydrological factors and relationships between runoff

and sediment yield in the Sub Basin of Satluj River, Western Himalaya,

India Vishal Singh

1, Sanjay K. Jain

2, Sandeep Shukla

2

1- RRSC (West), NRSC, ISRO, Cazri Campus, Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India.

2- National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, Uttrakhand, India.

[email protected]

doi:10.6088/ijcser.00202010102

ABSTRACT

Runoff and sediment yield assessment is the most complex hydrological phenomenon to

comprehend due to tremendous spatial variability of watershed characteristics and

precipitation patterns. A number of natural and anthropogenic factors influence the water

and suspended sediment flux of a river basin along its pathway. In the present study

Satluj River which is located in the Western Himalayan ranges state of Himanchal

Pradesh, India. Daily data have been used to examine the relationships between rainfall,

runoff and in a remote sensing and GIS environment. For this study Rampur, Suni and

Kasol three metrological stations datasets of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield for Satluj

basin during 1980 to 2005 have been used. Eighteen different hydro environmental

variables were derived from different spatial, non spatial and metrological datasets to

calculate the characteristics of the basin. The terra ASTER digital elevation model

(DEM) with 30 meter spatial resolution has been used. The performance of the long term

trend analysis of rainfall, runoff and sediment yield was evaluated using statistical and

graphical methods.

Keywords: DEM, Rainfall, Runoff, Sediment Yield, Hydro Environmental Parameters,

Coefficient of Determination

1. Introduction

A watershed is a hydrologic unit which produces water as an end product by interaction

of precipitation and the land surface. The quantity and quality of water produced by the

watershed are an index of amount and intensity of precipitation and the nature of

watershed management. In some watersheds the aim may be to harvest maximum total

quantity of water throughout the year for irrigation and drinking purpose. In another

watershed the objectives may be to reduce the peak rate of runoff for minimizing soil

erosion and sediment yield or to increase ground water recharge. Sediment yield is

defined as the total sediment output from a basin over a specified time period, with

suspended sediment as the dominant component. Estimation of sediment yield are

essential for water resources analysis, modeling and engineering (Walling and Webb

1996), in investigation of continental denudation rates (Summerfield and Hulton , 1994),

in studies of drainage basin response to change in climate (Glazyrin and Tashmetow,

1995). Various interrelated geologic, hydrologic, and topographic factors cause sediment

yield to vary widely from region to region (Ritteret al., 2002). Studies have addressed the

Response of hydrological factors and relationships between runoff and sediment yield in the Sub Basin

of Satluj River, Western Himalaya, India

Vishal Singh, Sanjay K. Jain, Sandeep Shukla

International Journal of Civil and Structural Engineering

Volume 2 Issue 1 2011 206

relationship between sediment yield and its controlling factors through correlation and

regression analysis at the global and regional scales. Variables expressing basin relief

characteristics and runoff magnitude tend to be most strongly associated with sediment

yields at global scale (Jansen and Painter, 1974).

The Satluj river basin as a whole receives a good amount of rainfall throughout the year,

which flows through the Western Himalayan region. Apart from the hill topography,

faulty cultivation practices and deforestation within the basin result in huge loss of

productive soil and water as runoff. The high rate delivery of sediment deposited into

reservoirs, constructed Dams and fresh water lakes which blocked the actual capacity of

reservoirs and Dams. It also reduces the infiltration capacity of ground water cause the

subsurface and underground water level continuously decreasing It has been aimed to

develop a tool to couple climate change scenarios and watershed modeling in order to aid

watershed management under the changing climate of the 21st century.

Ali and de Boar (2007) evaluated the spatial and temporal pattern of sediment yield in

upper Indus river basin. Lu and Higgitt (1999) studied sediment yield and runoff

relationship with mean elevation. Jain (2000) used the trapezoidal formula for assessment

of sedimentation in Bhakra reservoir, the estimated capacity in between the maximum

and minimum observed levels was obtained and average rate of loss of capacity in this

zone came out to be 20.47 Mm3 per year. The rationale of the study are examine the

major factors controlling sediment yield in the Satluj basin using different remote

sensing , GIS, hydrological and metrological datasets.

2. The Study Area

Figure 1: Showing the study area Satluj Basin (up to Kasol).






For the present study, Satluj Basin has been opted for the analysis which is one of the

main tributary of Indus river system with total drainage area of 23927 km2

(figure 1). It

falls in the Western Himalayan ranges from 31º 00´ 00´´ to 33º 00´ 00´´ North and 76º

50´ 00´´ to 79º 00´ 00´´East. These rivers are fed by snowmelt and rainfall during the

summer and by groundwater flow during the winter. The river originates from the lakes

of Mansarover and Rakastal in the Tibetan Plateau at an elevation of about 4500 m

a.m.s.l. The topographical setting and abundant availability of water provides a huge

hydropower generation potential, and hence several hydropower schemes exist or are

planned on this river.

The study basin covers outer, middle and greater Himalayan ranges, but its major part lies

in the greater Himalayas. Due to the wide range of altitudes and precipitation patterns, a

diverse climate is experienced in the basin. The lower part of the basin has tropical and

warm temperate climates, whereas the middle part has a cold temperate climate. In the

upper part, the climate is very cold and in the uppermost part, which is a perpetually

frozen area (permafrost), the climate is similar to the Polar Regions. In the upper part of

the basin, most of the precipitation is produced by the westerly weather disturbances

during winter in the form of snow. The lower part of the basin receives only rain, whereas

the middle part gets both rain and snow. Owing to the large differences in seasonal

temperatures, due to large altitude range, the snowline is highly variable in the course of

the year, descending to an elevation of about 2000 m during winter and retreating to

above 5000 m after the summer season.

3. Methodology

The present study utilizes a number of different hydrological and environmental data

variables for investigating major factors that analyses runoff and sedimentation in the

study area Kasol is a part of Satluj River basin. For the present study eighteen variables

calculated and derived from geospatial, topographical and metrological datasets. A

hydro-meteorological observation network was set up in the Satluj River basin. The

rainfall is observed at 10 stations namely Bhakra, Berthin, Kahu, Suni, Kasol, Rampur,

Kalpa, Rackchham, Namgia and Kaza. For the present study rainfall, runoff and sediment

yield data during 1980 to 2005 for three main gauging stations Rampur, Suni and Kasol

were obtained from BBMB (Bhakra Beas Management Board), India. The processing of

meteorological data was done using different statistical methods which is incorporated in

the Table 1. The statistical and trend analysis of different hydro - environmental

parameters were calculated using Statistica (Statistical Software) & GIS Software

ArcGIS 9.3.

All hydrological variables were derived from the sediment and runoff data (Table 2). The

mean, maximum and minimum values of the topographic and other environmental

variables for each sub basin were obtained from a statistical file obtained after clipping

the respective database using the delineated sub basin boundaries from the DEM (figure 2

–A). Based on these extracted parameters, a number of maps portraying the variability of

the major variables were developed. The trend analysis of rainfall, runoff and sediment

yield relationship was analyzed for three main locations Rampur, Suni and Kasol during

1980 to 2005. Long term scenarios of rainfall at Rampur, Suni and Kasol during 1980 to






2005 change were set to simulate responses of runoff and sediment yield in a typical

watershed at the Satluj River basin. Rainfall and runoff relationship divided into two

seasonal periods i.e. Monsoon period and Non Monsoon period respectively. The

temporal variations in the results showing the specific distribution and pattern of the

rainfall – runoff and runoff – sediment yield due to long term changes which is actually

dependent on the different factors and variables used in the study (Table 1).

Hydro – environmental variables mean annual sediment yield SY, mean annual discharge

Q, drainage area A, basin length Lb, channel length Lc, minimum-maximum elevation,

mean elevation, standard deviation of the elevation, upstream channel elevation El ch,

basin relief R, relief peakedness R pk, hypsometric integral HI, slope, mean surface slope

and standard deviation of the slope derived from the different spatial and temporal real

time data sets. These variables can be used directly as input in many hydrological studies

as Table 2.

Evaluations of hydrologic model utilize a number of statistics and techniques. Usually

these tools include “goodness of fit” or relative error measures to assess the ability of a

model to simulate reality. The following graphical and numerical performance criteria

were used in the present study. Coefficient of determination (R2) describes the

proportion of the total variance in the measured data that can be explained by the model.

It ranges from 0.0 to 1.0, with higher values indicating better agreement, and is given by,

5.0

1

2

5.0

1

2

12

N

I

avg

N

i

avg

avg

N

i

avg

SiSOiO

SiSOiO

R

Where, O(i) is the ith

observed parameter, Oavg is the mean of the observed parameters,

S(i) is the ith

simulated parameter, Savg is the mean of model simulated parameter and N is

the total number of events.

Table 1: Showing prospective variables, definitions, and data sources

Hydro - Environmental

Parameters

Definition Sources

SY (mg/lit)- Mean Annual

Sediment Yield

Sediment transported by the annually at

a stream gauging station

National

Institute of

Hydrology,

Roorkee, India

Q (Cumec)- Mean Annual

Discharge

Long term average discharge at the

basin outlet

National

Institute of

Hydrology,

Roorkee, India






A(sqkm)-Drainage Area Sum of the areas of all the cells

contributing to the flow at the basin

outlet

Aster DEM 30

meter

Lb (Km)- Basin Length Straight –line distance from the most

remote point on the water divide to the

basin outlet

Lc (Km)- Channel Length Length of the main channel of the

drainage basin from its head water to

the outlet

EL min (m)- Minimum

Elevation

Elevation of the lowest cell of the basin

EL max (m)- Maximum

Elevation

Elevation of the highest cell of the

basin

EL (m)- Mean Elevation Arithmetic mean of the elevations of

all cells

EL st.dev.- Standard

Deviation of the Elevation

Variability of the elevations of all cells

EL ch (m)- Upstream

Channel Elevation

Upstream elevation of the channel at

headwaters

R (m)- Basin Relief Difference between the maximum and

the minimum cell values in the basin

R pk - Relief Peakedness Ratio of the mean elevation and the

maximum elevation of the basin

Rr – Relief Ratio Ratio of the basin relief and the basin

length

HI – Hypsometric Integral Given by - (EL-Elmin) / (Elmax -

ELmin)

Gm (%) – Mean Surface

Slope

Mean of the slopes of all the cells in the

basin

S st.dev – Standard

Deviation of the Slope

Variability of the slopes of all cells

Slope 1 (mKm ֿ ¹) Ratio of the mean elevation of the basin

and the square root of the basin area

P (mm)- Mean Annual

Precipitation

Mean annual precipitation in the

drainage basin

National

Institute of

Hydrology,

Roorkee, India

4. Results and discussion

4.1 Relationship between Runoff, Sediment Yield and Sub basin variables

Precipitation is a major factor controlling the hydrology of the region or a given

watershed. Rainfall, runoff and sediment yield is the most complex hydrological

phenomenon to comprehend due to tremendous spatial variability of watershed

characteristics and precipitation patterns. For this purpose annual and average monthly

rainfall and runoff data from 1980 to 2005 were plotted to analyze the rainfall-runoff






relationship for three main sub basins Rampur, Suni and Kasol in the Satluj River basin.

The average monthly rainfall and runoff linear regression equation R² is used for the

evaluation of the study. For this study we derived 18 hydro – environmental factors

which are directly and indirectly responsible for runoff and sediment yield production.

Annual mean precipitation is the main controlling factor for analysis the runoff and

specific sediment yield relationships. The R2 for the Monthly Runoff and Sediment Yield

(1980 – 2005) is 0.45, 0.50, 0.56 for monsoon period and 0.29, 0.43, 0.42 is for Non

Monsoon period respectively (Chart 1, 2 & Chart 3).

Table 2: Showing Hydrological Environmental parameters of three sub-basins Rampur,

Suni & Kasol respectively

Hydro Environmental

Factors

Rampur Suni Kasol

SY (mg/lit)- Mean

Annual Sediment

Yield

226326.699 409442.092 465523.131

Q (Cumec)- Mean

Annual Discharge

113968.635 140618.072 147747.423

A(sqkm)-Drainage

Area

4421.89 4810.75 4896.337

Lb (Km)- Basin

Length

233.97 277.732 286.062

Lc (Km)- Channel

Length

300.04 354.96 390.799

EL min (m)-

Minimum Elevation

840 633 529

EL max (m)-

Maximum Elevation

6752 6752 6752

EL (m)- Mean

Elevation

3770.64 3667.138 3613.61

EL st.dev.- Standard

Deviation of the

Elevation

1692.46 1752.209 1781.32






EL ch (m)- Upstream

Channel Elevation

5148 5148 5148

R (m)- Basin Relief 5912 6119 6223

R pk - Relief

Peakedness

0.558 0.5431 0.535

Rr – Relief Ratio 25.2681 22.03 21.754

HI – Hypsometric

Integral

0.4957 0.495 0.495

Gm (%) – Mean

Surface Slope

56.18 56.72 57.04

S st.dev – Standard

Deviation of the Slope

150.14 158.44 168.26

Slope 1 (mKm ֿ ¹) 27.31 26.5201 24.8703

P (mm)- Mean

Annual Precipitation

771.8 991.4 1309.2

The character of the topography of a drainage basin significantly influences the quantity

of the precipitation pattern (like high intensity rainfall) resulting runoff and sediment

yield. The steeper a slope, the greater is the gravitational force acting to remove earth

materials from the slope. In fact, the rate of movement of rocks and soil particles is

directly related to the sine of the angle of slope inclination. The average slope of a

drainage basin can be expressed simply as a ratio of basin relief to basin length. Sediment

yields increase exponentially with an increase in this relief-length ratio. The relation

between the texture-slope product and sediment yield is such that a high sediment yield

can be expected from basins with a large drainage density and steep slope (figure 2- B).






(A)

(B)

Figure 2: Showing Digital Elevation Model (A) and Slope (B) of the study area of Satluj

Basin (Rampur, Suni & Kasol






Chart 1: Showing Monthly Relationship between Runoff and Sediment Yield during

1980 to 2005 with Monsoon and Non Monsoon periods respectively of Rampur.







1980 to 2005 with Monsoon and Non Monsoon periods respectively of Suni.







1980 to 2005 with Monsoon and Non Monsoon periods respectively of Kasol.

The coefficient of determination (R2) for the Monthly runoff and sediment yield was

obtained as respectively for the calibration period (1980 – 1994) i.e. 0.9119, 0.9106, 0.93

for Rampur, Suni and Kasol respectively (chart 4, 5 & 6). The discharge and sediment

yield values were plotted against each other in order to determine the goodness-of fit

criterion of coefficient determination (R2) for both parameters. The analysis reveals that

the monthly comparison showed a better correlation than the daily values.

Model verification and validation are essential for comparing the observed and predicted

data in any modeling studies. The model validation was carried out for daily and monthly

surface runoff and sediment yield for the years 1995 to 2005(chart 7, 8 and 9). The

regression model in this study was applied by applying coefficient of determination






approach The coefficient of determination (R2) for the Monthly runoff and sediment

yield was obtained as respectively for the validation period (1995 – 2005) i.e. 0.5409,

0.6676, 0.6997 for Rampur, Suni and Kasol respectively. The validation results shows

comparative difference between the discharge and sediment values for monthly and daily

time periods respectively. The comparison between the sediment yield and discharge

shows valuable correlation between each other for the three gauging locations Rampur,

Suni and Kasol.

Chart 4: Monthly Calibration between Runoff and Sediment Yield during 1980 to 1994

of Rampur.







of Suni


of Kasol.






Chart 7: Validating Monthly Relationship between Runoff and Sediment Yield during

1995 to 2005 of Rampur.


1995 to 2005 of Suni.







1995 to 2005 of Kasol.

5. Conclusion

The availability of high resolution, global temporal, real time and spatial datasets

provides an opportunity for examining major controls of specific sediment yield and

runoff. The hydrologic and climatic variables extracted from different spatial and

temporal datasets provide detailed spatial patterns of the various environmental

characteristics in the Satluj basin. These extracted environmental factors values used to

develop multiple regression models for estimating runoff and sediment yield in the

different regions of the basin. Mean annual rainfall (P) is the main controlling factor for

the monsoon part of the basin. This part of the basin has less relief but is subjected to

effective monsoon rainfall, which becomes the dominant factor in controlling erosional

process and in transporting the sediment along the Himalayan topographic regions.

The models of runoff and sediment yield presented in this paper link hydrological

variables and environmental characteristics on a regional scale, and allow the prediction

of specific sediment yield at Rampur, Suni and Kasol. The models, however, do not

explain all the observed variation in specific sediment yield in the basin, which

emphasizes the importance of and need of physically – based, spatial distributed models.

But these derived hydro – environmental factors can be used as input for any

hydrological studies. The coefficient of determination (R2) for monthly runoff for

validation period was obtained 0.5409, 0.6676, and 0.6997 respectively. The values of R2

can be considered reasonably satisfactory for calculating runoff and sediment yield from






a remote watershed with observe gauging sites Rampur, Suni and Kasol for Satluj basin

respectively.

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