Research Projects

This research aims to investigate the impact of extreme rainfall events and river-bed sand mining on sediment deposition and channel avulsion in large dammed rivers like the Mahanadi. The study will use collected decadal data from historical satellite images to quantify river avulsion and rover bed mining activities in a stretch of the River Mahanadi between Naraj Barrage and Jobra Barrage north of Cuttack. The research will establish a statistical relationship between sediment transport and deposition, stream avulsion, and rainfall, enabling predictive analyses to mitigate future floods and damage to life and property. The research will benefit planning sand mining from river bed and land reclamation from the river bed. The research will address the prime research questions: how does sand mining impact river avulsion and sand deposition, how extreme rainfall influences sediment transport and deposition alongside stream avulsion, and if the results can be used for predictive modeling of avulsion. The study will assess the risk of flooding in the city of Cuttack, located in the Mahanadi Delta, surrounded by Rover Mahanadi and River Katha Jodi. The methodology will include mapping channels and sandbars from Landsat data, geospatial analysis of sandbar migration and channel avulsion, correlation with basin scale rainfall events, and predictive modeling of avulsion and migration in extreme rainfall events.