Bhugol Swadesh Charcha (Multidisciplinary International Journal)

Paper Id: BhugolSC-1552 Copyright 2020 © All rights reserved.

AN ANALYSIS OF FORMATION OF A LARGE ISLAND ALONG THE NORTHERN BANK OF

THE UPPER BRAHMAPUTRA RIVER WITH THE LOSS OF MAJULI ISLAND

Dr. Luna Moni Das

Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, Vasanta College for Women, UP

Abstract:- The Brahmaputra river is one of the most dynamic rivers in the world with a very
high sediment load and high frequency of occurrence of flood. The area bounded by the
foothills of eastern Himalayas in the north, the Brahmaputra in the south and south east
and eastern side and the Subansiri River in the west, is a chronically flood prone area.
There are many streams in this region and only few are perennial. There are two major
anabranches of Brahmaputra called Kharkutia Xuti and Charikoria. All of these makes it a
very dynamic area and channel shifting is very common here. Thus, it is very important to
study the channel dynamics in this area. This paper is proposing the formation of a larger
island in the northern bank of the Upper Brahmaputra River with the loss of Majuli Island.
It is aimed at understanding the changing channel planforms in the area. The analysisdone
in this paper are based on the remote sensing data and mapping of the channel planforms
in GIS environment in different temporal. Some of the important results of this study are
that all the streams/rivers originating in the north have experienced reduction in the total
length in the plains over time during the period 1973 to 2013, river like Jiadhol has
experienced a reduction in sinuosity in the lower reaches as well. The other most important
result is that even though the south-westernedge of Majuli Island is eroding fast, there is a
formation of a larger island in between Charikoria and Brahmaputra, that comprises of
Majuli island and parts of Dhakuakhana subdivision of Lakhimpur District along the south
of Charikoria river.

1. INTRODUCTION
Over the last 100 years mighty river Brahmaputra has widened wiping out more than 4500
villages. The Brahmaputra which occupied around 4000 km2 area in 1920 has expanded to
about 6000 km2 in 2010 along the flood plains of Assam(Mitra, 2010).The channel width of
river Brahmaputra has increased from 7 to 9.25 km, between 1920 to 1998 (Kakoti, et al.
2003). Assam earthquake of 1950 with 8.6 magnitude has abruptly altered the balance
between sediment supply and transport in the river Brahmaputra and its tributaries. The
sudden influx of sediment after the earthquake results heavy river bed siltation, rise of
riverbed and it has initiated the process of river widening by bank erosion. The river has
acquired an anabranching pattern. Majuli, the largest colonised riverine island formed
between Kharkutia Xuti and the mainbranch of Brahmaputra. Sharma and Phukan (2004)
have given detains on the formation and erosional details of the Majuli island and also
stated that Majuli is older than the Brahmaputra river itself. But it has eroded by
3.1km2/year between 1915 and 2005 (Lahiri and Sinha, 2014). Thereis evidence of dying
out of the KharkutiaXuti in the IRS-1D WiFS image of March 1998 (Kakoti, et al. 2003).
There is evidence of development of a new island during within last two decades called
DibruSaikhoa Reserve Forest, (300 km2) as a result of unprecedented increased in the
width of the channel of the Brahmaputra and capture of tributaries (Lahiri and Sinha,
2014). On the other hand, tributaries of Brahmaputra have also shown significant chance
in the drainage pattern. Gogoi and Goswami (2013), hasstudied of bank-line migration
pattern of Subansiri river using satellite imagery of 1995 and 2010 found that the total
erosion on both banks is double that of deposition. Das (2016), has work on the channel
avulsion of the Jiadhol river using satellite imageries.
Kakotiet al (2003), while discussing about erosion mentioned that the two type of
slumping is prominent in the study area, undercutting during flood stage and flowage of
highly saturated sediments during the fall of the river, they also mentioned that maximum
erosion occurs just after the flood period. Hazarika, et al, (2015) have taken an important
step in understanding and documenting the change in land use driven by two important
rivers in the area. They have also quantified the backline migration of the rivers. Their
analysis shows a decrease in grassland and increase in settlement and agricultural land.

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 Bhugol Swadesh Charcha (Multidisciplinary International Journal)

Paper Id: BhugolSC-1552 Copyright 2020 © All rights reserved.

This paper has the basic objective of examining the drainage dynamics of the study are over
a period of four decades from 1973 to 2013.

2. STUDY AREA
The study area lies between 26°52ʹ North to 27°58ʹ north latitude and 93°57ʹ East and
95°28ʹ East longitudes. It is a 5790 sq. kms, triangular piece of land in the flood plains of
the Brahmaputra river. It occupies the eastern most part of narrow east west running flood
plain along the north bank. It is the area bounded by the Himalayan Frontal Trust in the
north, the Brahmaputra in the south and south east and eastern side and the Subansiri
River mark the western boundary of the area. This area is a chronic flood prone area in
Assam valley. It has an average elevation of 20 meter above mean sea level. This land is
dissected by many north-south flowing small tributaries of Brahmaputra many of these
rivers are seasonal in nature. Jiadhol, Gainadi and Simen are the most important rivers of
these area. Other rivers are Sampara Xuti, Nonoi, Jiadhol, Korha, Kumatia, Moridhol,
Gainadi, Dimow, Simen, Burisuti, Tongani, Somkhong, Narod, Dikhari, Jonai Korong, Leko,
Sibia, and Silley. There are two main anabranches of Brahmaputra, in this area and they
are Kharkutia Xuti and Charikoria Xuti.All of these rivers cause severe flood in this area
during the monsoon season and have the perpetual problem of channel shifting and
sedimentation.Pobitara is the reserve forest in this region. Administratively, this area covers
the whole of Dhemaji District and Majuli District and the Dhakuakhana subdivision of
Lakhimpur District in the Indian State of Assam.

Fig. 1: Map of study area

3. METHODOLOGY
Temporal change in channel are mapped from the satellite imageries for a period of 4
decades. The analysis done in this paper are based on the remote sensing data. The
LANDSAT images have been collected from the USGS, http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov for the
year 1973, 1993, 2003, 2013 and 2014 for this paper. The mapping of the channel
planforms, and drainage network are done under GIS environment using ArcGIS 14
software.

Table 1: Satellite Imageries used

Agency Year Date of Scale Source
Acquiring
LANDSAT MSS 1973 19.3.1973 60 m USGS,
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov
LANDSAT TM 1993 30.9.1993 28.5 m USGS,
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov
LANDSAT 7 ETM 2003 12.10.2003 28.5 m USGS,

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 Bhugol Swadesh Charcha (Multidisciplinary International Journal)

Paper Id: BhugolSC-1552 Copyright 2020 © All rights reserved.

http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov
LANDSAT 7 ETM 2013 9.10.2013 28.5 m USGS,
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov
LANDSAT 8 ETM 2014 11.12.2014 28.5 m USGS,
http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov

4. ANALYSIS
The change in the channel planform of all the rivers in the study areahas been mapped for
the year 1973, 1993, 2003, 2013 in the Figure 2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively. The first point
that come out of this image time series is that, the region is a dynamic region and
witnessed many fluvial changes. Beside Subansiri and Brahmaputra river, other two most
important rivers of this region, Jiadhol and Gainadi river, have drastically shifted its course
over time along with other rivers.
A proper study of the positionof the rivers and the sand patches, in the 1973,shows
evidence of abundance of seasonal streams in the region, along with few abandoned
channels. Subansiri river was flowing in a course east of the present course. Jiadhol river
was flowing towards the east after debouching to the plains of Assam. The Gainadi was also
showing seasonal nature in the region. On the other hand, there are many rivers and
streams in 1993. The Jiadhol river have taken a southward route and there was a shift in
the course of the river between 1973 and 1993. In 1993, the course of the Charikoria Xuti,
an anabranch of Brahmaputra, in the south was flowing parallel to the Brahmaputra. It has
become more distinct by this time. Rivers like Jiadhol, Moridhol were emptying in the
Charikoria. From the study of the 2003 river planform, it hasbecome clear that the
Kharkutia Xutiwas drying out, it is no more fed by the Brahmaputra, in the east.
On the other hand, in the west it is fed by Subansiri and so the flow is from west to
east and not from east to west. The same trend is observed in the image acquired in 2013.
The Charikoria river is continuously fed by the tributaries like Jiadhol and Moridhol and
also by the master Brahmaputra in the east. There is a distinct connection between the
Brahmaputra and the Charikoria in the upper and lower reached and it continues to take
the form of an active anabranch of Brahmaputra. Whereas Kharkutia Xuti is not at all fed
by the Brahmaputra in the upper reaches except in the high flow condition. The personal
survey in the study are also shows that in the dry season there is no flow in the Kharkutia
Shruti and it act like a seasonal stream although there is little input by the Subansiri. On
the other hand, Charikoria is a perennial in character. It also has many oxbow turn
beelsand wetlands along its side. This also suggest much older origin of Charikoria
compared to Kharkutia Shruti.

Fig 2: Rivers in 1973 Fig 3: Rivers in 1993

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Paper Id: BhugolSC-1552 Copyright 2020 © All rights reserved.

Fig 4: Rivers in 2003 Fig 5: Rivers in2013

5. MAJULI AND ITS EROSION

Majuli is a world heritage site and has the privilege of being the largest inhabited river
island. It has undergone significant change due to bank erosion in the last 50 years. Fig. 6,
shows the result of two overlapped images of the Majuli island curved out of the 1973 and
2013 satellite imageries. It distinctly shows that, there is sever loss of the island in the west
due to erosion by the Brahmaputra in the south and Subansiri in the north. Little erosion
is seen in the east also due to Brahmaputra on the other hand there is a little and
insignificant deposition also along the east. The edge of the island along the Kharkutia Xuti
do not show any significant erosional or depositional activities. Whatever erosion of Majuli
has occurred has been caused by either Subansiri or Brahmaputra and in no case by the
Kharkutia Xuti. This also proves that no significant fluvial action has been caused by the
Kharkutia Xutiduring the last 50 years and so it is an inactive anabranch of Brahmaputra.

Unchanged area of Majuli Island Erosion Deposition

Fig. 6: Dynamics of Majuli Island between 1973-2013

5.1 River dynamics in the major rivers in the study area

The change in the length of major rivers have been studied in order to estimate the change
in the study area. The three most important rivers, Jiadhol, Gainadi and the Charikoria

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 Bhugol Swadesh Charcha (Multidisciplinary International Journal)

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river are considered here. There is decrease in sinuosity of these three rivers during the
period 1973 to 2013 as shown in Table 2. The channel dynamics of the Jiadhol and Gainadi
are shown in Fig. 7. Thus, there is straightening of all of these rivers during this period. The
river Jiadhol has shown the largest amount of reduction in sinuosity compared to other two
rivers. Whereas Charikoria has shown least among the three rivers but it has also shown
reduction of sinuosity and shortening of the total length of the river. In general, all of these
three rivers in the study are has registered shortening of the total length. All of the three
rivers have caused active bank erosion in the studied period as evident from the field
survey.

Table 2: Change in the length of the Jiadhol, Gainadi and Charikoria River.
River Sinuosity Sinuosity Sinuosity Sinuosity Change Result
in 1973 in 1993 in 2003 in 2013 in
Sinuosity
from
1973-
2013
Jiadhol 2.59 2.46 1.98 1.97 -0.62 Straightening
Active erosion
Gainadi 2.45 2.33 2.19 2.05 - 0.4 Shortening
Charikoria 3.01 2.99 2.85 2.73 - 0.28 Shortening

Fig: 7: Channel dynamics of Jiadhol and Gainadi between 1973-2013

5.2 Formation of a larger Island with the loss of Majuli Island

Majuli is a highland between two anabranches of Brahmaputra with much older existence
(Lahiri and Sinha, 2014). It has lost large land area in the southwest part and thus the
administrative boundary of Majuli had shrank over time. But as geomorphologist we must
think beyond administrative boundaries. In the Fig.8, derived from the LANDSAT 7 ETM
collected in 2013, it can be observed that the flow of Kharkutia Xuti that separates the
Majuli island from the rest of the north bank is non existent now but on the other hand the
Charikoria Xuti is must more active. The most important fact that came out of this work is
that the Kharkutia Xuti anabranch of Brahmaputra that separate the Majuli Islands from

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 Bhugol Swadesh Charcha (Multidisciplinary International Journal)

Paper Id: BhugolSC-1552 Copyright 2020 © All rights reserved.

the rest of North bank plains during 1973 is no more experiencing any flow from
Brahmaputra in 2003. It does not experience any flow from Brahmaputra for major portion
of the year in 2013. Its connection with Brahmaputra is visible only during the peak
discharge condition.
On the other hand, the Charikoria Xuti anabranch of Brahmaputra in the north of
the Kharkutia Xuti, is showing strong link with Brahmaputra and is feeding from the flow of
Brahmaputra. The western front of Majuli Island is experiencing heavy erosion. Where as in
the eastern side of the island, there is no connection between Kharkutia Xuti and
Brahmaputra. The personal inspection of the flow direction also supports this conclusion as
during the dry month of December the flow in Kharkutia is from Subansiri to east but this
also do not reach Brahmaputra. Whereas Charikoria is carrying the water of Brahmaputra
via Subansiri to Brahmaputra again, from east to west in both the dry as well as rainy
season and thus it is an important anabranch of Brahmaputra in the recent time.

Fig. 8: The Charikoria Xuti, an active anabranch of Brahmaputra River and the larger
island formation between Charikoria and Brahmaputra.

6. CONCLUSION
Some of the important results of this study such as the reduction in the total length of
rivers in the plains and the dying of Kharkutia Xuti anabranch of Brahmaputra, that
separate the Majuli Islands from the rest of north bank plains during 1973 and active river
dynamics of Charikoria Xuti in the present time. Along with the evidence and basic
understanding of the satellite imagery and personal survey. It can be concluded that, there
is a development of new and a larger island in the northern part of the Brahmaputra,
consisting of parts of remaining Majuli island and parts of north bank of Brahmaputra,
including Dhakuakhana subdivision of Lakhimpur District, along the south of Charikoria
river.The new large island is located between Charikoria Xuti- Subansiri River and the main
branch of Brahmaputra (Fig. 8).

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