Open Journal of Modern Hydrology, 2012, 2, 91-98

http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/ojmh.2012.24011 Published Online October 2012 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojmh)

91

Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River

System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India
P. P. Nikhil Raj, P. A. Azeez
Slim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON), Coimbatore, India.
Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Received June 3rd, 2012; revised July 15th, 2012; accepted August 1st, 2012

ABSTRACT
Baseline morphometric information at a sub basin level is essential to develop appropriate strategy for sustainable, socially acceptable, ecologically benign and economically viable development of a river basin. The present study was
carried out in one of the less studied Bharathapuzha river basin (BRB), the second longest river in the state of Kerala,
India. The annual discharge of the river is 3.94 km3. Nevertheless the basin, which receives about 1828 mm of annual
rainfall, in recent years has been facing dearth of water. We used GIS and RS tools to study the morphometric characteristics of the basin. The seventh order main river is formed by several lower order streams forming a dentritic flow
pattern. Basin geology, slope and rainfall pattern in the basin determine the morphometric characteristics of the basin.
The linear aspects of the basin including stream length ratio and bifurcation ratio indicate the role of relief in the basin
while the areal ratios indicate the elongate nature of the basin.
Keywords: Bharathapuzha River Basin (BRB); Morphometry; GIS; RS

1. Introduction
Morphometric analysis provides quantitative expression
of drainage basins, and is regarded as one important tool
in hydric analysis [1] providing simple and accurate measures to document the drainage systems [2]. Morphometric
analysis brings out the basic characters on the geometrical and mechanical aspects of the river basin which in
turn would be helpful in understanding the hydrology,
sediment characteristics and landscape evolution of basins. River basins are considered as an open system and
the basic steps involved in morphometric analysis are
defining, measuring and analyzing the quantitative indices related to flow plane geometry and profile, and bed
form of river basins. The morphometric analysis examines linear and areal aspects of the drainage networks
[3].
Due to several anthropogenic pressures and global climate variations most of the worlds fresh water flow regimes are under severe threat. Therefore documenting
basin characteristics using morphometric techniques,
well-known since early nineteenth century, are very essential. The studies by Horton [4], Starhler [5,6], Schumm
[7] are considered land marks in the field. Studies conducted by Dade [8], Singh et al. [9], Sreedevi et al. [10]
Mesa [2], Rao et al. [11], Sarkar and Gundekar [12],
Rudraiah et al. [13], Angillieri [1], Thomas et al. [14] are
some of the later morphometric studies. The recent
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studies make use of the high potentials of Geographic

Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) as
the most popular and effective tools to investigate the
river morphometry and basin characters.
The state of Kerala, placed at the southwest corner of
India (8.5 - 11N and 76 - 77E) is bestowed with 44
rivers. The net-work of their tributaries and distributaries
cover almost 74% of the total surface area of the state. It
is supposed that the state is aplenty in water availability.
However, a recent study found that Keralas per capita
water availability lies far below the more arid states of
India such as Rajasthan and Maharashtra [15]. Unsustainable exploitation of natural resources and untenable
encroachment of the river course and basin areas are the
probable grounds for dying rivers of the state. Extensive
mining of sand and clay have interfered with the flow
regime of many of the tributaries [16]. Though the state
is rich in number of rivers flowing through it studies related to Morphometry are rare. In this context, the present study examines the morphometric characteristics of
Bharathapuzha River, using GIS and RS tools.

2. Study Area
The Bharathapuzha River (1025' to 1115' north and
7550' to 7655' east) is the second longest (209 km) and
largest (annual discharge 3.94 km3) among the west
flowing perennial rivers (41 in number) in the state of
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Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India

Kerala in India (Figure 1). The river basin covers 1/9 of

the total geographical area of the state. The flow regime
of the river covers highlands (>76 m above MSL), midlands (8 - 76 m above MSL) and the low lands (<8 m
above MSL). The river has a well-developed flood plain
and fluvial terrace of recent origin. The annual discharge
of the river at its confluence is 3.94 km3 [17]. The river is
the life line water resource for more than 4.5 million
people residing in five administrative districts, namely
Malappuram, Trissur and Palakkad districts of Kerala,
and Coimbatore and Thiruppur districts of Tamil Nadu.
There are eleven dams and irrigation projects in the river
basin catering 493,064 ha cultivations [18,19]. In recent
years, the basin is facing severe dearth of water and
drought like situations, perhaps for the increasing anthropogenic pressures and development works that grossly neglect the hydrologic flow regime of the basin. Unsustainable exploitation of water, in stream sand mining
and clay mining for brick kilns are among the striking
threats to flow of the river.
The location of the BRB in the Palakkad gap, the most
prominent physiographic and morphologic feature, the 30
km wide opening in the whole of 1300 km long Western

Ghats, provides a climatic realm for the basin from the

rest of south India [20]. The average annual rainfall in
the BRB is 1828 mm with a standard deviation of 456.6
mm. Among the months, while July experiences highest
rainfall (525 mm), almost 29% of the total annual rainfall
in the basin, January receives the lowest (3 mm). Among
the two chief rainy seasons, rainfall is highest during
south west monsoon season (1318 mm with a standard
deviation of 391 mm) followed by north east The mean
annual temperature of the basin was 22.86C with a
standard deviation of 0.5C. April is the hottest (mean
temperature 26.78C) month in the basin.
Geologists consider the basin as a successor to a westerly flowing palaeo-river during the post Mio-Pliocene
time [21-23]. Vaidyanadhan [23] as well as certain
LANDSAT imageries have also identified certain palaeoriver channels tending towards the east flowing Amravati
river basin through the present day river course. BRB has
a wide variety of geological formations including archean
crystallines, laterites and coastal sand and alluvium
(Figure 2). The archean crystallines is seen in almost
entire basin except the river mouth. The main river
channel is characterized by chrnockites, garnet sillimanite

Figure 1. Location and drainage pattern in BRB, South India.

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Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India

93

Figure 2. Geology of BRB.

gneisses (Khondalites), calc granulite and associated crystalline limestones, hornblende-biotiteg-neisses, granites
and quatzo-fledspathic gneisses. In many places in the
basin the crystallines are seen capped over by laterites.
The basic metamorphic bodies and acid intrusives are
represented by pyroimite, amphibolite, dolerite, pegmatite, and quartz vein. Coastal sands and alluvium forms
recent to sub recent depositions in sediments at river
mouth in the form of semi consolidated and variegated
tertiary sandstones and clay stones. The eastern boundary
of the basin is characterized by deposition of Kankara
product of chemical weathering of country rocks in dry
and semi-arid climate [24].

3. Methodology
Survey of India (SOI) topographic map series (58 A/4,
A/8, A/12, A/16, E/4, B/1, B/5, B/9, B/13, B/2, B/6, B/10,
B/14, F/2, B/11, B/15, F/3; 49 N/13, N/14) of scale
1:50,000 were used as the base maps for delineation of
BRB and its sub basins. We also used land sat imageries
available at www.landcover.org for the morphometric
analysis. The slope and relief of the basin were examined
using digital elevation model data (DEM) available at
www.asterdem.com. The stream order, stream length,
mean stream length, stream length ratio, bifurcation ratios, mean bifurcation ratio, relief ratio, drainage density,
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stream frequency, drainage texture, form factor, circulatory ratio and elongation ratio were estimated. We used
Arc GIS 9.3 and ERDAS IMAGINE 8.5 for the entire
study.

4. Results and Discussions

The basin extends between Western Ghats and the Palakkad gap on its east, narrowing down to the Arabian
seacoast at the west. The four major tributaries of the
river are namely Kalpathypuzha, Gayathripuzha, Thootha,
and Chitturpuzha basins, all originating from the Western
Ghats. The drainage pattern of the river Bharathapuzha is
dendritic in nature, a pattern very common in areas with
horizontal sedimentary rocks [10]. The total drainage
area of the Bharathapuzha basin is 6186 km2 of which
4400 km2 falls in the state of Kerala and the rest in Tamil
Nadu state of India. The areas under each sub basin are
given in Table 1. Kalpathy is the largest basin while
Thootha forms the smallest one among the four sub-basins. The perimeter, the total length of the drainage basin
boundary of the whole BRB, is 1215.4 km. The perimeter ranges in the order Chittur > Tootha > Kalpathy >
Gayathri among the sub basins (Table 2). The basin
length, the maximum length measured parallel to the
main drainage line [4], was estimated individually for
each sub basins. The highest basin length was found in
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Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India
Table 1. Stream order in the Bharathapuzha river basin.
Stream order

Basin area
(km2)

Stream order

Bharathapuzha river

6102.34

Chittur

Basin

5628

1321

324

70

19

1314.71

2162

494

115

22

Kalpathy

1390.16

1198

291

73

18

Gayathri

1084.69

633

165

44

Thootha

1015.3

1325

296

72

17

Table 2. Relief ratio and Elongation ratio of BRB.

Basin name

Perimeter (km)

Basin length

Relief ratio

Elongation ratio

Bharathapuzha river

1215.4

133

17.90

0.66

Chittur

273.5

78

30.00

0.52

Kalpathy

211.1

63

31.52

0.67

Gayathri

194.6

56

19.89

0.66

Thootha

251.3

58

37.79

0.62

the case of Chittur basin followed by the Kalpathy, Thootha, and Gayathri basins (Table 3). Determining the
stream order is one of the early steps in study of drainage
basin. The stream ordering was done following Strahler
[6]. The main river is of 7th order and among the four
basins while river Chittur fall in 7th order and all others
fall in 6th order (Table 1). The number of streams gradually decreases as the stream order increases following the
Hortons first law (Figure 3). Physiography and structural condition of the basin are the important factors influencing the number and order of the streams.
From the topographic map the lengths of all the
streams in the basin falling under different stream orders
were measured (Table 3) and as is expected the total
stream length of each segment increases with the increasing stream order (Figure 4, see Table 4 for mean
stream lengths of each tributaries). This indicates the
decrease in the slope in the basins terrain, tending towards the coastal belt from the higher altitude Western
Ghats. It is also observed that the stream length characteristic of the basin follows Hortons second law [4,25].
Mean stream length (the ratio of the total number of
stream segment of a particular order to the total stream
length of the same order) is believed to be a distinctive
property of a river channel relating the drainage network
components and its associated basin surfaces [6]. The
stream length shows an abrupt increase in 4th and above
order for the main river as well as all the tributaries, indicating the pressure exertion from the structural elements especially slope and high amount of rainfall [14].
Study conducted by Thomas et al. [14] in Muthirapuzha
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river basin located south of BRB in the Western Ghats

also show similar pattern in mean stream length ratio.
This characteristic of BRB indicates the geologic evolution of the basin is more or less according to the geologic
erosion laws with homogenous characteristics of weathering [3]. The stream length ratio of the drainage system
was calculated as the ratio between total stream lengths
of the order to total stream length of its next order [4].
The stream length ratio of the main stream of the river
ranges from 0.38 to 1.15. The stream length ratios of all
the four tributaries were also found varying considerably
(0.30 to 1.75, Table 3). The stream length ratio of BRB
and its sub basins were found to be varying anomalously.
This variation could be easily explained as the down
stream extension of the higher order stream or upward
extension of tributaries or inception [14]. The change in
the mean stream length ratio is an indicator of the changes
in the slope and topography, which in turn determine the
age of the basin [13]. The stream length ratio is also reported to have a vital role in surface flow discharge and
sedimentation stage of the basin [10].
The Bifurcation ratio is a dimensional parameter, derived as the ratio between the numbers of streams of any
given order to the number in the next lower order [26].
This is considered to be an important parameter that articulates the degree of ramification of the drainage network [2] and an indicator of the geological condition of
the basin [5]. At the whole basin and sub basin level, the
bifurcation ratio of the study area varies more or less
gradually ranging from 2 to 5.50 (Table 5), ascribed to
mountainous or highly dissected basin areas [4]. However,
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Figure 3. Relationship between stream order and number of streams in BRB.

Figure 4. Relationship between mean channel length and stream order in BRB.
Table 3. Stream length and stream length ratio of BRB.
Total
(km)

Order wise stream length (km)

Basin name
1

Bharathapuzha
river

3884.80

1469.65

906.93

433.50

248.71

144.05

166.17

Chittur

1329.24

428.95

237.07

84.17

66.04

40.24

70.30

Kalpathy

929.04

392.59

279.13

134.20

61.03

Gayathri

522.93

234.51

137.24

87.29

Thootha

803.85

241.82

183.50

91.20

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Stream length ratio

2/1

3/2

4/3

5/4

6/5

7/6

7253.82

0.38

0.62

0.48

0.57

0.58

1.15

2256.01

0.32

0.55

0.36

0.78

0.61

1.75

14.16

1810.13

0.42

0.71

0.48

0.45

0.23

55.53

27.15

1064.65

0.45

0.59

0.64

0.64

0.49

66.11

62.50

1448.97

0.30

0.76

0.50

0.72

0.95

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Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India
Table 4. Mean Stream length of BRB.
Mean stream length (km)
Basin name
1

Bharathapuzha river

0.69

1.11

2.80

6.19

13.09

28.81

166.17

Chittur

0.61

0.87

2.06

3.83

11.01

20.12

70.30

Kalpathy

0.78

1.35

3.82

7.46

12.21

14.16

Gayathri

0.83

1.42

3.12

10.91

18.51

27.15

Thootha

0.61

0.82

2.55

5.36

13.22

62.50

Table 5. Bifurcation ratio and mean bifurcation ratio of BRB.

Bifurcation ratio (RL)

Mean bifurcation

Basin name
1/2

2/3

3/4

4/5

5/6

6/7

Bharathapuzha river

4.26

4.08

4.63

3.68

3.80

5.00

4.24

Chittur

4.38

4.30

5.23

3.67

3.00

2.00

3.76

Kalpathy

4.12

3.99

4.06

3.60

5.00

4.15

Gayathri

3.84

3.75

5.50

2.67

3.00

3.75

Thootha

4.48

4.11

4.24

3.40

5.00

4.24

as suggested by Chow [25], these values may indicate the

area is not influenced powerfully by geological structures.
The closeness in mean bifurcation values among the basins on the other hand shows the similarity in the geological set ups [14]. Present analysis of bifurcation ratio
in BRB is not following the hypothesis of Giusti and
Schneider [27]. According to them the bifurcation ratio is
inversely proportional to the stream order. This is perhaps due to the influence of the relief. Relief is the altitudinal difference between the maximum and minimum
elevation points in the basin. The relief ratio is an adimensional ratio derived from the relief of the basin, calculated as the ratio between basin length to the total relief of the basin [26]. It is an important factor indicating
the denudational characteristics of the basin. Normally
the relief ratio is inversely proportional to the drainage
area of the basin [28]. However, in case of BRB this relationship could not found (Table 2).
By definition drainage density of a basin is the total
length of the streams of all orders per drainage area [4].
Drainage density is believed to be highly influenced by
environmental factors such as climate, infiltration capacity of the area, rock type, relief, vegetation cover, surface
roughness, and runoff intensity. The drainage density of
the BRB was 6.06. Among the four sub basins of the
river, highest drainage density was found in the case of
Chittur and lowest in the case of Gayathri (Table 6). The
higher drainage density of the BRB suggests the sparse
vegetation and mountainous relief, while in the sub basin
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level it indicate highly permeable sub soil, with moderate

vegetative cover as suggested by Rudraiah et al. [13] for
Kagna river basin, Karnataka, India.
Stream frequency of a basin is defined as the ratio between total number of segments cumulated for all order
within a basin and the basin area [4]. Regarding the
stream frequencies of the Bharathapuzha river and its sub
basins, Chittur sub basin have highest number (Table 6)
followed by Thootha sub basin. The stream frequency appears to be correlated well with relief factor and slope of
the area. The provenance of Chittur and Thootha sub
basins are in the high altitudes in the Anamalai reserve
forest and Silent valley National park respectively.
Drainage texture is the total number of stream segments of all the orders to the perimeter of that basin [4].
The drainage texture of a basin have direct relation with
climate, rainfall, vegetation cover, rock and soil type,
infiltration capacity, and relief and stage of development
[29]. It is considered to be one of the prime features of
the basin geomorphology. Weak rocks devoid of vegetative cover produce fine texture, while rocks which are
hard and with vegetative cover produce coarse texture.
Sparse vegetation in arid climate causes finer texture
than in humid regions. Smith [29] have classified five
different drainage textures related to various drainage
densities as very coarse (below 2), coarse (2 - 4), moderate (4 - 6), fine (6 - 8) and very fine (8 and above). The
highest value for drainage texture was found in the case of
Chittur basin indicating very fine nature of the drainage
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97

Table 6. Drainage density, texture ratio, form factor and circulatory ratio of BRB.
Basin name

Drainage
density

No. of
streams

Stream
frequency

Texture ratio

Form
factor

Circulatory
ratio

Bharathapuzha river

6.06

7368.00

1.21

6.06

0.34

0.05

Chittur

1.72

2802

2.13

10.24

0.22

0.22

Kalpathy

1.30

1586

1.14

7.51

0.35

0.39

Gayathri

0.98

854

0.78

4.39

0.35

0.36

Thootha

1.43

1716

1.69

6.83

0.30

0.20

system; in Gayathri basin the texture was found to be

moderate (Table 6).
Form factor, the ratio of the area of the basin to the
square of basin length [4], for the basin and all its sub
basin (Table 6), except in the case of the Chittur sub
basin, were more or less very close. The Chittur sub basin on the other hand is a narrow basin with comparatively less number of drainage net works. Circulatory
ratio, that can be expressed as the ratio of the basin area
to the area of a circle with same perimeter as the basin
[30], is more influenced by length, frequency, and stream
gradients of various orders than slope condition and
drainage pattern of the basin. According to Sreedevi et al.
[10] it is a significant ratio indicating the dentritic stage
of the basin. In all the sub basins of BRB the circularity
ratio were found ranging from 0.20 - 0.39 indicating the
basin to be more elongated than circular (Table 6) indicate the youth stage of the river network. And the low
value of circulatory ratio of the basins indicates their
elongated shape and that is clearly due to its location in
the Palakkad Gap in the Western Ghats. The elongated
shape of the BRB and its sub basins can be visualized
well by measuring the elongation ratio. It is the ratio between the diameter of the circle of the same area as the
drainage basin and the maximum length of the basin [26].
The elongation ratio of the basin as well as sub basin
level of BRB is displayed in the Table 2. Since water lag
of a basin can be determined from its elongation ratio, it
is a necessarily important feature to be found prior to any
programs of harnessing a river flow for any developmental activities.

The elongation and circulatory ratios shows the elongative nature of the basin. The peculiar location in the Palakkad Gap of the Western Ghats with unique geological
characteristics greatly influences the morphometry of the
river basin. Other aspects such as slope, relief, and environmental factors such as rainfall also had considerably
contributed to the basin morphometry. Documentation of
the morphometric characters can be well utilized for conservation and sustainable management of the BRB and
also is essentially necessary to develop appropriate strategy for socially acceptable, ecologically benign and economically viable development of the river basin.

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5. Conclusion
BRB is one of the highly exploited river basins in the
state of Kerala, India, however the scientific documentation on the river basin is very scarce. The present study
generates baseline information on the morphometric
characteristics of the river basin as well as its sub basins.
BRB is a seventh order river basin with four sub basins.
The drainage pattern of the BRB is dentritic. The mean
stream length of the river was found ranging between
0.69 to 166.17 km among different stream orders. The
drainage texture of the basin falls under fine category.
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Morphometric Analysis of a Tropical Medium River System: A Case from Bharathapuzha River Southern India
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