Tectonic controls on the geomorphic evolution of alluvial fans in the Piedmont Zone of Ganga Plain, Uttarakhand, India

Abstract

The Piedmont Zone is the least studied part of the Ganga Plain. The northern limit of the Piedmont Zone is defined by the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) along which the Himalaya is being thrust over the alluvium of the Ganga Plain. Interpretation of satellite imagery, Digital Terrain Models (DTMs) and field data has helped in the identification and mapping of various morphotectonic features in the densely forested and cultivated Piedmont Zone in the Kumaun region of the Uttarakhand state of India. The Piedmont Zone has formed as a result of coalescing alluvial fans, alluvial aprons and talus deposits. The fans have differential morphologies and aggradation processes within a common climatic zone and similar litho-tectonic setting of the catchment area. Morphotectonic analysis reveals that the fan morphologies and aggradation processes in the area are mainly controlled by the ongoing tectonic activities. Such activities along the HFT and transverse faults have controlled the accommodation space by causing differential subsidence of the basin, and aggradation processes by causing channel migration, channel incision and shifting of depocentres. The active tectonic movements have further modified the landscape of the area in the form of tilted alluvial fan, gravel ridges, terraces and uplifted gravels.

Surface deformation in the Himalaya and adjoining piedmont zone of the Ganga Plain, Uttarakhand, India: Determined by different radar interferometric techniques

“…Moreover, our results augment the results of previous optical remote sensing, digital terrain model and field based morphotectonic investigations that have unequivocally shown that all the faults of the study area are tectonically active (Valdiya et al, 1992;Goswami and Pant, 2008;Goswami et al, 2009;Goswami, 2012). …”

“…Based on our results, field investigation and previous studies (Rupke, 1974;Nakata, 1989;Valdiya et al, 1992;Valdiya, 2001;Malik and Nakata, 2003;Thakur et al, 2007;Goswami and Pant, 2007;Goswami et al, 2009), we present a model to summarize the tectonic movements in the area since the development of MBT (Fig. 12).…”

“…(Valdiya, 2001;Agarwal et al, 2002;Malik and Nakata, 2003;Goswami and Pant, 2008;Goswami et al, 2009;Goswami, 2012). For example, three levels of terraces are developed along the left bank of the Kosi river near Majhera village, north of Nainital town (Fig.…”

A Maros hordalékkúp fejlődéstörténeti rekonstrukciója

“…Több hordalékkúp összenövésével alakul ki a hordalékkúp-síkság a hegységfront mentén (Lecce 1990, Goswami et al 2009), mely kis lejtéssel rendelkezik (Guzetti et al 1997).…”

Tectonic controls on the morphometry of alluvial fans around Danehkhoshk anticline, Zagros, Iran

“…Depositional processes, morphology, morphometry, and the development of alluvial fans are controlled by a number of factors such as tectonic activity (Whipple and Trayler, 1996;Calvache et al, 1997;Li et al, 1999;Viseras et al, 2003;Harvey , 2005Harvey , , 2012Goswami et al, 2009), climate (White et al, 1996;Pope and Wilkinson, 2005;Salcher et al, 2010;Waters et al, 2010), lithology (Lecce, 1991;Blair and McPherson, 1998), base level change (Koss et al, 1994;Harvey, 2002;Storz-Peretz et al, 2011) and the morphometric properties of catchments (Oguchi, and Ohmori, 1994;Sorriso-Valvo et al, 1998;Crosta and Frattini, 2004).…”