Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta

The construction of multiple dams and barrages in many Indian River basins over the last few decades significantly reduced river flow to the sea and affected the sediment regime. More reservoir construction is planned through the proposed National River Linking Project (NRLP), which will transfer ma...

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Main Authors: Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha, Smakhtin, Vladimir U.
Format: Journal Article
Language:Inglés
Published: Elsevier 2009
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24586
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author Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha
Smakhtin, Vladimir U.
author_browse Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha
Smakhtin, Vladimir U.
author_facet Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha
Smakhtin, Vladimir U.
author_sort Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description The construction of multiple dams and barrages in many Indian River basins over the last few decades significantly reduced river flow to the sea and affected the sediment regime. More reservoir construction is planned through the proposed National River Linking Project (NRLP), which will transfer massive amounts of water from the North to the South of India. The impacts of these developments on fertile and ecologically sensitive deltaic environments are poorly understood and quantified at present. In this paper an attempt is made to identify, locate and quantify coastal erosion and deposition processes in one of the major river basins in India—the Krishna—using a time series of Landsat images for 1977, 1990 and 2001 with a spatial resolution ranging from 57.0 m to 28.5 m. The dynamics of these processes are analyzed together with the time series of river flow, sediment discharge and sediment storage in the basin. Comparisons are made with similar processes identified and quantified earlier in the delta of a neighboring similarly large river basin—the Godavari. The results suggest that coastal erosion in the Krishna Delta progressed over the last 25 years at the average rate of 77.6 ha yr− 1, dominating the entire delta coastline and exceeding the deposition rate threefold. The retreat of the Krishna Delta may be explained primarily by the reduced river inflow to the delta (which is three times less at present than 50 years ago) and the associated reduction of sediment load. Both are invariably related to upstream reservoir storage development.
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spelling CGSpace245862024-03-26T18:43:47Z Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha Smakhtin, Vladimir U. erosion coastal area environmental effects reservoirs sedimentation case studies deltas The construction of multiple dams and barrages in many Indian River basins over the last few decades significantly reduced river flow to the sea and affected the sediment regime. More reservoir construction is planned through the proposed National River Linking Project (NRLP), which will transfer massive amounts of water from the North to the South of India. The impacts of these developments on fertile and ecologically sensitive deltaic environments are poorly understood and quantified at present. In this paper an attempt is made to identify, locate and quantify coastal erosion and deposition processes in one of the major river basins in India—the Krishna—using a time series of Landsat images for 1977, 1990 and 2001 with a spatial resolution ranging from 57.0 m to 28.5 m. The dynamics of these processes are analyzed together with the time series of river flow, sediment discharge and sediment storage in the basin. Comparisons are made with similar processes identified and quantified earlier in the delta of a neighboring similarly large river basin—the Godavari. The results suggest that coastal erosion in the Krishna Delta progressed over the last 25 years at the average rate of 77.6 ha yr− 1, dominating the entire delta coastline and exceeding the deposition rate threefold. The retreat of the Krishna Delta may be explained primarily by the reduced river inflow to the delta (which is three times less at present than 50 years ago) and the associated reduction of sediment load. Both are invariably related to upstream reservoir storage development. 2009-02-15 2012-10-23T05:46:26Z 2012-10-23T05:46:26Z Journal Article https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24586 en Limited Access Elsevier Gamage, N., & Smakhtin, V. (2009). Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta. In Geomorphology (Vol. 103, Issue 4, pp. 533–540). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2008.07.022
spellingShingle erosion
coastal area
environmental effects
reservoirs
sedimentation
case studies
deltas
Gamage, M.S.D.Nilantha
Smakhtin, Vladimir U.
Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title_full Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title_fullStr Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title_full_unstemmed Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title_short Do river deltas in east India retreat? A case of the Krishna Delta
title_sort do river deltas in east india retreat a case of the krishna delta
topic erosion
coastal area
environmental effects
reservoirs
sedimentation
case studies
deltas
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/24586
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