Impact of Sediment Quarrying on the Channel Morphology of the Upper Mahananda River, West Bengal, India

By : Subhajit Sarkar, Kashmiri Begum, Sunil Kumar De

Page No: 213-233

Abstract
The present study aims to study the morphological changes resulting from the extraction of sediment from the Mahananda riverbed, located on Himalaya foothill, very close to the Siliguri town, West Bengal, India. Temporal morphological changes in Mahananda River have been detected from satellite images and topographical sheets. Sediment sampling of some quarrying sites has been done through field investigation. Sediment sampling of some quarrying sites has been done through field investigation. The average bank full depth difference in different sediment quarrying section ranges between 0.1 m and -2.1 m and width-depth ratio varies from -0.22 to -66.56 in pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period. The correlation between the amount of sediment quarried and the width of the quarried area suggests that when the amount of bed material quarried increases, the width of the river also increases. Similarly, a correlation between width and depth also indicates that human activities have altered the natural process of the river.

Authors :
Subhajit Sarkar
Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.

Kashmiri Begum
Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.

Sunil Kumar De
Department of Geography, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Meghalaya, India.
 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32381/ATNAGI.2022 42.02.1