GEOMORPHOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF AN ALLUVIAL RIVER USING GIS

Abstract

In India, Rivers from time immortal have an important role to play and thus have been equated to as Goddess. As the population has been increasing, rivers have been playing a keyrole in development of a nation. Mighty rivers are not only used for transportation and other basic utilities, but also for various developmental activities like Industrialization, Irrigation, and Hydropower generation etc. In some cases like alluvial rivers poses perennial threats to surroundings areas due to changes in river course and pattern. Among the all alluvial rivers in the World, the river Kosi on its own is an unique river. In the past, it has registered phenomenal changes over period of time and hence is the reason that it has been chosen for this study. In the olden days, these river changes were appraised by conventional surveying or analytical approaches, which were slow tedious and time consuming. In order to have an effective use of this information, there is a need to improve the methodology and technology. The Remote Sensing Technology plays a very important role in monitoring river changes. Applications of this technology have resulted in timely availability of repetitive and reliable information necessary for the development of resource management. For storing, manipulating, analyzing, and displaying the huge amount of data need a powerful tool i.e. GIS. In the present study detailed analysis of various cross-sections along the river planform have been carried out for various years and presented in a manner such that it gives the self understanding of river changes in terms of erosion, deposition and shift etc. For making comparative analysis a Spatio-Temporal model is developed to represent the variation of maximum depths and slopes of different years. Inclusion of hydrographic data will make it more realistic and appropriate to the present study. Integrated use of, Geographic Information system and remote sensing save the time and cost of resource management. Key words: Geomorphology, GIS, Resource management, Remote sensing