Geomorphic Changes Related to Anthropogenic Interference Along the Ganga River From Rishikesh to Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The authors, in this study, have quantified the changes in the geomorphic activity of the Ganga River between Rishikesh and Haridwar by using Survey of India (SOI) 1:5000 scale topographic sheets, satellite data, digital elevation model (DEM), and hydrological data from published resources. They have also correlated the change in settlement area in Haridwar and Rishikesh and connected it to the changing geomorphic features in the downstream reach of the Tehri dam site. The study finds that the change in geomorphology of the river in the studied reach of the Ganga River is attributable to reduced water and sediment supply. The study area being in the active tectonic zone, bound between MCT in the north and HFT in the south, may have experienced offsetting of the reduction in sediment supply by dam in the post dam era (after 2006) due to massive earthquakes delivering sediment directly delivered to streams through enhanced landslide and other mass wasting processes.