Natural hazards in the Ghaghara River area, Ganga Plain, India

• Published in: Natural hazards (Dordrecht) Vol. 57; no. 2; pp. 213 - 225
• Main Authors: Singh, Dhruv Sen, Awasthi, Amit
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.05.2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alluvial plains; Civil Engineering; Coastal plains; Disasters; Earth and Environmental Science; Earth Sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Environmental Management; Exact sciences and technology; Flood damage; Flooding; Floods; Geophysics/Geodesy; Geotechnical Engineering & Applied Earth Sciences; Hazards; Hydrogeology; India; Natural Hazards; Natural hazards: prediction, damages, etc; Original Paper; Population; Population density; Rivers; Soil fertility; Water; Water availability; Narrows; New York; Asia; United States; India; Mitigation; Ganga Plain; Ghaghara River; Flooding; Natural hazard; Lateral erosion; damage; mass movements; North America; settlement; currents; discharge; compaction; Natural hazards; soils; fractures; alluvial plains; rivers; inundations; pressure; expansion; channels; erosion; populations; valleys
• ISSN: 0921-030X; 1573-0840
• DOI: 10.1007/s11069-010-9605-7

The Ganga Plain is one of the most densely populated regions of the world due to its fertile soil and availability of water. The rivers of this plain are the lifeline for millions of people of this vast alluvial plain. All rivers of this plain are characterized by narrow channel confined within wide valley. Continuously increasing pressure of population on this plain has led to the intensification of settlement even into the valley of the river. This unplanned expansion has enhanced the damage due to flooding during high-discharge period and lateral erosion during low-discharge period. Flooding and lateral erosion are identified as fluvial hazards in the Ghaghara River area. Extensive studies have been carried out on flooding, but not much attention has been paid to the phenomenon of lateral erosion. However, it has been observed that lateral erosion is an independent fluvial hazard that operates during low-discharge period. Low degree of compaction due to the presence of sandy and silty facies in the river valley deposits, mass movement, palaeocurrent pattern, and fractures initiates and enhances the lateral erosion. The present paper deals with the fluvial hazards in the Ghaghara River area.