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Rivers of Uttarakhand Himalaya: Impact of Floods in the Pindar and Saryu Valleys

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The Indian Rivers

Part of the book series: Springer Hydrogeology ((SPRINGERHYDRO))

Abstract

The Uttarakhand Himalaya is frequently rocked by cloud burst-/heavy rainfall-induced floods during monsoon period. The resultant of the events is not only loss of million dollar properties but also toll of local inhabitants as well as pilgrimages as the state have various shrines. Several rivers originate from the Himalayan region and provide the drinking water to millions of people in India. Whereas, the behaviours of the rivers seems to be very precarious and carry floods in downstream region sometime due to excessive precipitation. Considering the significance of the rivers of the region, the present investigation focused on flood events along Pindar and Saryu valleys and its cause and impact on inhabitant. Both the valleys are criss-crossed by numbers of thrusts/faults, which makes the region more prone to disasters. Various geomorphic features e.g. immature topography, deflecting river courses, ponding of ancient drainage, development of cascades, formation of unpaired fluvial terraces and series of triangular fault facets suggested the tectonic modification within the valleys along thrusts/faults. Thus, the fragile lithology, torrential rainfall, accelerating erosion and incision with higher uplift due to tectonic upheaval along the active faults play a significant role in destabilizing of the river valleys and responsible for rainfall-induced catastrophes in the region. Moreover, the anthropogenic disturbance with increased pressure of urbanization, ignorance and poor understanding of geological structures pulverizing the river dynamics as well. Therefore, it is suggested that the impact and human causality can be minimized along the river valleys through detail investigations of geological structure, proper guidelines for sustainable development and awareness of processes of landslides-/cloudburst-induced floods. Further, it needs to relocate the people to safer side on the flat and gentler slopes without waiting for next disaster as relocation is much better than rehabilitation.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to Centre of Advanced Study in Geology (CAS), Department of Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital for providing departmental facility. LMJ is gratified to SERB/DST for financial assistant under Fast Track scheme (vide project No. SR/FTP/ES-91/2012).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, Kumaun University, Nainital, 263002, India

    Lalit M. Joshi, Anoop K. Singh & Bahadur S. Kotlia

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  1. Lalit M. Joshi
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  2. Anoop K. Singh
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  3. Bahadur S. Kotlia
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Correspondence to Lalit M. Joshi .

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  1. Centre of Advanced Study in Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Dhruv Sen Singh

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Joshi, L.M., Singh, A.K., Kotlia, B.S. (2018). Rivers of Uttarakhand Himalaya: Impact of Floods in the Pindar and Saryu Valleys. In: Singh, D. (eds) The Indian Rivers. Springer Hydrogeology. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2984-4_31

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