Research Projects

The Ganga basin of India contains several kilometers of alluvial strata and constitutes one of the world's most extensive plains-home to hundreds of millions of people, mostly dependent on agriculture. The Ganga is a perennial, 2525 km long river that originates from the Himalaya. The river drains through the alluvial plains from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and the hills and uplands of Jharkhand, enters the lower Ganga and deltaic plains in West Bengal and finally falls into the Bay of Bengal. It derives its fluvial material flux mainly from the Indian Himalaya and drops most of its load in the Ganga-Brahmaputra Delta and Bengal Fan regions. The Ganga plains are of great significance as they constitute an important link now and during the Late Quaternary between the Himalayan Orogeny and the Indian Ocean. Additionally, understanding the landforms of the Ganga plains- their origin, development and dynamic imprints - is of critical significance to plan effectively for sustainable development of the region. During Late Quaternary, the sediments were laid down in the way during flood carving floodplains. The upper surfaces of the floodplains produced by the Ganga River are commonly flat but locally exhibit cliffs along the river embankment that are tens of meters high. such cliffs occur around Jajmau town in the Kanpur district, Jhusi and sirsa villages in the Allahabad district, Adalpura and Bhatauli village in the Mirzapur district, Ramnagar town (opposite the city of Varanasi) in the Varanasi district, and around Tanda village in the Chandauli district, all located along the middle reaches of the Ganga River, central Ganga Plain. Interaction between tectonics and climate at variable spatial and temporal scales controls weathering and erosion in the catchment areas of major rivers in orogenic belts (Burbank et al., 2003; Clift et al., 2010). This influences fluvial processes such as river discharge, sediment flux, and channel migration that in turn shape the landscape in the region (Bookhagen et al., 2005). Both tectonic activities and climatic fluctuations have controlled the evolution of geomorphic landforms and sedimentary processes in the Himalayan hinterland as well as the Indo - Gangetic alluvial plains. studies in the past decade have focused on determining controls of tectonics and climate on sedimentation in the central Ganga Plain. Multiple approaches have been adopted to study the Late Quaternary environmental changes and alluvial stratigraphic development of flood plains of Ganga River. Evolutionary history of most landforms in the Ganga Plains remains poorly understand and non-availability of data have been a serious impediment in elucidating the history of alluvial plain sedimentation. In order to improve our understanding of the Ganga River, a holistic approach is necessary that relies on multidisciplinary analysis and results.