Bank vulnerability and avulsion modeling of the Bhagirathi-Hugli river between Ajay and Jalangi confluences in lower Ganga Plain, India

Abstract

The emergence of the study of fluvial dynamics of the alluvial monsoon rivers especially in India is being enriched through the application of remote sensing and GIS techniques. To study fluvial dynamics over time, channel avulsion no doubt is one of the most considerable phenomena. The study section (~75 km) in between the two confluences of the Bhagirathi River i.e., Ajay (Katwa) and Jalangi River (Nabadwip) confluence in Lower Ganga Plain of West Bengal is highly oscillatory in nature. Several satellite images and toposheets of different time periods (1955, 1973, 1990 and 2011) have been used in order to analyse the avulsive nature in this section of the river. These fluvial features (cut offs, ox-bow lakes, point bars etc.) form as a result of channel avulsion and have been identified with the help of Landsat satellite images. The decadal differences in sinuosity ratio in different parts of the studied section, channel migration rate and avulsion model explain the dynamic nature and crucial portions of high bank erosion rate of the channel in the mentioned time period. For both the reaches (R1 and R2), meander loop cut offs are dominant rather than lateral avulsion in the context of aggregate channel migration that also reflects the instability and erosional vulnerability at different meander bends.