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The north-south trending Kullu valley between Rohtang in the north and Hansu in the south is a wide and open valley filled with Quaternary sediments along the main course of the Beas River. The valley in the middle is drained by the Beas River and numerous tributaries join it laterally. The tributary channels have deposited large alluvial fans at their mouths which form three distinct levels. The Beas River has deposited alluvial terraces, which are very distinct towards the lower reaches and form three to four levels. The upper slopes and high altitudinal areas are covered with periglacial and glacial deposits. The terrace, fan and hill slopes have provided an ideal geoenvironment for human activities including agriculture, horticulture, dense settlements and other civil establishments.The Kullu Valley is prone to various natural hazards, flash floods and cloudbursts that are very common in this valley due to its peculiar geomorphic condition, high relief of peripheral ridges and impact of monsoon winds. The studies carried out so far indicate that the losses caused by these phenomena both in terms of life and property are mainly due to unwise human interaction with the geoenvironment of the area. The paper gives an overview of the geoenvironmental status of the Kullu Valley and suggests the necessity of undertaking further detailed studies including resource mapping for balanced development of the area.

The study of active tectonics in Himalaya is important as this helps to understand the style of evolutionary process of this gigantic mountain system in more speci c terms. The formation of lakes, regarded as the crown stage development of an orogenic belt, is an impressive geomorphic feature that adorns the Himalayan belt end to end. Tso Kar and Startsapuk Tso are the two ancient lakes that lie south of the Indus Suture Zone in the northwestern Himalaya. An attempt has been made to map the former extent of these lakes, using remote sensing techniques, for providing vital clues in elucidating the paleoenvironmental conditions under which these water bodies were developed. It is observed that the dimension of these lakes has constantly uctuated in time due to ongoing compression in the collision regime and possible climatic in uences that have been recorded on a large scale globally. An added advantage of this study has been to evaluate the high spatial resolution data of the Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS-1C) for geomorphological, lithological and structural inferences in the arid, inaccessible and complex terrain like the northwestern Trans Himalaya.

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