Remote sensing technology and geographic information system modeling: An integrated approach towards the mapping of groundwater potential zones in Hardrock terrain, Mamundiyar basin

In this paper, remote sensing, evaluation of digital elevation models (DEM), geographic information systems (GIS) and fieldwork techniques were combined to study the groundwater conditions in Mamundiyar basin, Tamilnadu. Several digital image processing techniques, including standard color composites, intensity-hue-saturation (IHS) transformation and decorrelation stretch (DS) were applied to map rock types. Remote sensing data were interpreted to produce lithological and lineament maps. DEM was used for lineament and geomorphologic mapping. All thematic layers were integrated and analyzed in a GIS. The overall results demonstrate that the use of remote sensing and GIS provide potentially powerful tools to study groundwater resources and design a suitable exploration plan.