Watershed simulation in a sandy terrain of the Thar desert using GIS

The sandy landscape in a desert contains very few stream channels. This poses a problem for delineating watersheds for analysis. Since large-scale topographical sheets of sandy terrain also contain very little information on height, delineation of watersheds from topographical sheets often becomes difficult. In order to find a simple solution to the problem in the Thar desert of Rajasthan, India, the authors used the well-known ARC/INFO software for simulation of height and drainage network using the scarce topographical information for a sandy terrain near Jodhpur. Superimposition of data layers generated from remote sensing and secondary sources validated the simulation results, and suggested suitability of the method for application in similarly handicapped areas.