Modeling and characterization of the coastal aquifers along valinokkam ramnad district tamilnadu india

Abstract

Portable water is the need of human civilization. The rise in the level of pollution newlinein terrestrial freshwater has led to an increased usage of groundwater. This groundwater newlineresource, however, is under severe threat from salinization due to both natural and newlineman-made causes. The present study area, Kadaladi Block of Ramanathapuram District, newlineTamilnadu, India is the coastal aquifers, lies between the latitude 9° 6 to 9°21 N and newlinelongitude 78° 18 to 78°45 E. The geographical extent of the study area is roughly newlinearound 612 Sq. Km. The study area is mainly covered with sedimentary formation and newlineabout 70% of the area is occupied by sand, silt and clay. The remaining 30% of the area newlineis covered with alluvial, aeolian and coastal deposits. The aeolian deposits comprise red newlinesand which are in nature of ancient dunes and occur over 3.2 Km wide and 8 km long newlinestretch and lie parallel to the sea coast. newlineIn the present research work, various groundwater potential zones for the newlineassessment of groundwater availability in Kadaladi block have been delineated using newlineremote sensing and GIS Techniques. Survey of India Toposheets and IRS 1C satellite newlineimageries are used to prepare various thematic layers viz. Lithology, Slope, Land-Use, newlineLineament, Drainage, Soil, and Rainfall. Then these vector files were transformed to newlineraster data using raster Converter tool in ArcGIS 10. These raster maps are allocated newlinewith a fixed score and weightage for reclassification. Then, each weighted thematic layer newlineis statistically computed to get the groundwater potential zones. The groundwater newlinepotential zones thus obtained were divided into four categories, viz. very poor, poor, newlinegood and very good zones. A very poor zone occupies the western portion (inland) and newlinethe very good zone occupies the eastern (coastal) portion of the study area. The result newlinedepicts the groundwater potential zones in the study area and found to be helpful in newlinebetter planning and management of groundwater resources. newline