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Palaeo and Present Channel of Assi River, Uttar Pradesh, India


Affiliations
1 Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India
2 Water Resources Assessment Division, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India
 

The Assi river in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, is now a small, local, ephemeral floodplain tributary of River Ganga, with a length of about 8 km and catchment area of about 22 km2. It has also turned into a filthy drain. There are evidences in the form of palaeochannels, through patterns of water bodies and settlements along them, to suggest the origin of Assi river near Allahabad flowing through a distance of about 120 km up to Varanasi to meet the Ganga. There is also the possibility that Assi started as a takeoff from River Ganga and flowed as a Yazoo stream. Through on-screen digitization from high and medium-resolution remote sensing data – BHUVAN and Google Earth, CORONA aerial photographs, IRS P6 LISS-IV, Landsat 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 – and a number of cross profiles from SRTM 30 m digital elevation model (DEM), palaeochannel of Assi has been delineated. Also, a 1 m DEM was generated for the present Assi catchment area from about 5000 DGPS points to present proof that the present Assi is a misfit in once a wider valley shaped by heavy discharge coming from a greater length of channel and a larger catchment area.

Keywords

Catchment Area, Flood Plains, Palaeochannel, Remote Sensing.
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  • Palaeo and Present Channel of Assi River, Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract Views: 256  |  PDF Views: 94

Authors

Mallikarjun Mishra
Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India
K. N. Prudhvi Raju
Department of Geography, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi 221 005, India
P. V. Raju
Water Resources Assessment Division, National Remote Sensing Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Hyderabad 500 037, India

Abstract


The Assi river in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India, is now a small, local, ephemeral floodplain tributary of River Ganga, with a length of about 8 km and catchment area of about 22 km2. It has also turned into a filthy drain. There are evidences in the form of palaeochannels, through patterns of water bodies and settlements along them, to suggest the origin of Assi river near Allahabad flowing through a distance of about 120 km up to Varanasi to meet the Ganga. There is also the possibility that Assi started as a takeoff from River Ganga and flowed as a Yazoo stream. Through on-screen digitization from high and medium-resolution remote sensing data – BHUVAN and Google Earth, CORONA aerial photographs, IRS P6 LISS-IV, Landsat 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 – and a number of cross profiles from SRTM 30 m digital elevation model (DEM), palaeochannel of Assi has been delineated. Also, a 1 m DEM was generated for the present Assi catchment area from about 5000 DGPS points to present proof that the present Assi is a misfit in once a wider valley shaped by heavy discharge coming from a greater length of channel and a larger catchment area.

Keywords


Catchment Area, Flood Plains, Palaeochannel, Remote Sensing.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv118%2Fi4%2F630-639