MAPPING OF QUARTZ REEFS IN BUNDELKHAND CRATON BASED ON REMOTE SENSING DATA AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS

Abstract

The immensely resourceful Bundelkhand craton has suffered from the crisis of water shortage and drought in the past. The reason of this crisis not being the shortage in the amount of rainfall in the area but the nature of terrain and some manmade activities. However there are some geological structures present which behave as natural barriers for the flow of water. These structures namely the Giant Quartz Veins (GQVs), are found throughout the craton. Due to their high resistance to erosion, these GQVs can block the course of a river or tributary if it flows across the direction of its orientation. Hence many existing dams and natural reservoirs are made across these GQVs for watershed management. Using this as reference there are many potential dam reservoir sites in the area which could be constructed by blocking the course of a river or tributary which flows through the gap between the GQVs. This would not only recharge groundwater but solve the main crisis of the Bundelkhand area of rain water harvesting and water shed management. Over a thousand GQVs are spatially distributed all over the area having more or less the same orientation making a lot of scope for construction of such dams.