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Mar. 1-15, 2019, Vol. 19, issue 17, No. 128 A De v e l op m e n t A n D e n v i ron m e n t f ort n ig h t ly
GeoGraPhy and you

Landforms
geomorphology SpeCIAl

IN INdIa
Coastal GeomorpholoGy
Desert lanDforms ICe as an
aGent of sCulptInG lanD
fluvIal GeomorpholoGy
CaChar valley
 PARI
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 G’nY SINCE 2001
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Vol. 19  Issue 17 No. 128  March 1-15, 2019
Photo courtesy: amit jain

the clarity of the water in river Dawki, cherrapunjee, meghalaya makes the boat look like it’s suspended in mid-air.

Landforms in india 28 Coastal Geomorphology

4 Fluvial Geomorphology: An Indian Perspective sulagna chattopadhyay
Dhruv sen singh The coastal landforms are erosional or depositional
There are 22 major river basins in India. Among them three main depending upon the process of their genesis.
basins have their origin in Himalaya.
36 Ice as an Agent of Sculpting Land
10 Cachar Valley: A Cauldron of Adverse Natural rasik ravindra
Phenomenon The major part of ice and glaciers are found as ice caps and ice sheets
Kuldeep Kachroo in Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland, apart from the Himalaya, Andes
The Cachar valley has a very fragile environmental setting and Europe.
where neo-tectonic activity is still underway.
arctic-antarctic
18 Narmada’s Distinctive Litho-tectonic Features 42 Polar Regions from the Sky
anulekha Prasad alvarinho j Luis
The Narmada flows in a general ENE-WSW direction over a length of Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean surface.
1,312 km, draining into the Gulf of Khambhat in the Arabian Sea. It increases in winter and melts away in summer.

20 Lake Lonar
ratish Kumar jha
The Lonar is one of the best preserved impact structures in Brief
and the only one to have been formed on volcanic rocks. 1 Letters; 2 Editor’s Note;
9 The Karst Caves of India; 17 Columnar Basalt;
30 The Atolls of Lakshadweep;
22 Desert Landforms 31 Badland Topography;
sudesh Kumar Wadhawan 32 Barren Island; 33 India’s Tombolo;
Landforms in deserts have evolved through a long period of time 34 Hot Springs; 35 Human Induced Land Subsidence;
through the interplay between fluvial and aeolian processes. 48 Books & Websites.

Expert Panel
B Meenakumari Ajit Tyagi Rasik Ravindra Saraswati Raju
Former Chairperson, Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Geologist and Former Professor, CSRD,
National Biodiversity Former DG, IMD, Secretary General, Jawaharlal Nehru
Authority, Chennai. New Delhi. 36 IGC, New Delhi. University, New Delhi.

Prithvish Nag B Sengupta Sachidanand Sinha D Mukhopadhyay

Former Vice Chancellor, Former Member Secretary, Professor, CSRD, Chief Executive
MG Kashi Vidyapeeth, Central Pollution Control Jawaharlal Nehru ACRA,
Varanasi. Board, New Delhi. University, New Delhi. Noida, U. P.
 February, 1-15, 2019. vol 19. issue 15, no. 126: I was absolutely absorbed
reading the special Biodiversity Issue, India’s Ecological Diversity Vol
19, Issue 15, No. 126. The articles were so captivating that I got excited
and found myself reading all of it at a go. I recall reading some trending
GeoGraphy and you
articles covering substantial perspective on coastal regulation policy and
editor on access and benefit sharing—the discourses were brought out with
SuLagNa CHaTTOPaDHyay nuances which many newspapers fail to publish. G’nY is a must have for
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THE LITTLE RaNgEET
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2 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

Guest Editor
The earth is a unique planet—the only one known to sustain
life. Enveloped by mighty oceans, clothed by soil, lofty mountains
and dense forests, fed by rivers and nourished by rains–it has been
held in awe and even worshiped over centuries. The natural wonders
of the earth are sculpted by nature over geological times. It is these
architectural wonders or landforms, its evolution and the processes
of formation that constitute geomorphology. A subject common to
physical geography, geology and natural sciences—geomorphology is
a fascinating subject in the sense that it answers questions of natural
Rasik Ravindra curiosity and encourages us to understand our surroundings. The
The author is Geologist processes that play a role in formation of landforms, their evolution and
and Secretary General, disappearance holds the key to sustenance of life and the preservation
36th International
Geological Congress, of biodiversity. In fact, some of the processes such as the three stages
New Delhi in development of a fluvial regime draw a close analogy from the life
cycle of humans —young, mature and old.
An attempt has been made to cover the four major domains
of physical geomorphology—fluvial, desert, glacial and coastal
geomorphology and highlight the essential landforms and structures
associated with these processes in the current volume. Some of the
key morphological features exposed in different parts of India such as
karsts caves, columnar basalts, the Ram Setu, subsidence of land in
West Bengal, badlands etc have also been briefly touched.

Editor’s note
I am delighted to bring before you the first ever G’nY issue on
geomorphology showcasing India’s myriad landforms. I had often
wondered as a young student of geography why we so often quoted
examples of faraway lands when describing fantastic landforms that
were so painstakingly shaped over millions of years. Today, we have
greater access to a lot more information. We have scholars who have
brilliantly described features that we all readily identify in text, but are
unable see on our land. This issue would break the barrier and help
transport you to the real life instances of what you have only seen in
Sulagna Chattopadhyay texts till date. You will also read about how neo-tectonic movement
Founder-Editor, can create landforms, such as the Barak River in the Cachar valley.
Geography and You, The article presents an interesting insight about how a zero gradient
New Delhi river changes its course over the decades. You will also notice a brief
section on Arctic and Antarctic. Considering the tireless effort of our
scientists and geologists working in these inhospitable terrains, we
felt it was pertinent to bring to you the features and landforms that
have been identified by them in the Polar realms. However, we do
understand that there is a lot more that needs to be covered. We would
in the future focus on more terrain related content with treatises on
mountains, hills, plateaus, and plains in India—the four major types
of landforms.
Happy reading!

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 3

 L a ndf or m s in indi a

By Dhruv Sen Singh

Fluvial
GeomorpholoGy
AN INdIAN PersPectIve
rivers are a life-sustaining resource for plants, animals and humans.
During its arduous journey rivers carve out several erosional and
depositional features that define the geomorphology of a river basin.

The author is Professor at the Department of Geology, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India. The article should
be cited as Singh D.S., 2019. Fluvial Geomorphology An Indian Perspective, Geography and You, 19(17): 4-8

4 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 R
ivers constitute water that flows
in a definite direction through a
channelised way, transporting
sediments and water from the
source to the sink. Rivers are a
renewable natural resource and a veritable lifeline
for society. All ancient civilisations of the world
evolved on the banks of rivers—the Harappan
civilisation at Indus, Egypt at Nile, Babylon at
Tigris, and Mesopotamia between Euphrates and
Tigris. However, rapidly growing population,
urbanisation and industrialisation are adversely
affecting the rivers and their environment. The
encroachment by man within the natural cycle
of rivers has polluted the water, increased their
sediment load, changed their capacity to transport
and disturbed the ecosystem, which in turn has
changed river dynamics, resulting in amplified
floods causing loss of life and property. The rivers
which served as life line for millions of years for
the survival of mankind are now looking towards
humans for their own survival (Singh, 2018).

classification of indian rivers

The rivers of India can be classified into three
groups:
a. The Himalayan rivers such as the Ganga, the
Ghaghara, Great Gandak and the Kosi etc.,
which originate in the higher Himalaya and are
generally snow fed (Fig. 1).
b. The Ganga plain rivers such as the Gomati, the
Sai, the Chhoti Gandak etc., which originate in
this region and are generally fed by groundwater
(Fig. 2).
c. Peninsular rivers, which originate in peninsular
India and are rain fed, often forming waterfalls
for example the Godavari, the Krishna, the
Narmada etc. (Fig.3).

river basins of india

As per the Central Water Commission of India,
there are 22 major river basins in the nation.
Among them the three main basins that drain
the northern and eastern India and have their
origin in Himalaya are the Ganga, the Indus and
the Brahmaputra river basins. The Ganga and the
Brahmaputra river basins have an area of 861,452
sq km and 194,413 sq km respectively (Misra,
Photo: Prasad

a view of Burhi Gandak,

Champaran, Bihar. 2014), and drain into Bay of Bengal. The Indus on
the other hand, drains into the Arabian Sea and is

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 5

 1 the longest river in South Asia with a basin area of
2 100,139 sq km and 86,643 sq km of the area
3 The life cycle or journey of a river, from its origin
4
5
Fig. 1. ‘V’ shaped valley, Ganga river, rishikesh,
Uttarakhand; 2. a river channel - groundwater fed with
both banks visible - Chhoti Gandak river, deorea, UP;
3. Narrow Narmada channel, cutting through rocks
near Jabalpur, MP; 4. a cliff section, Yamuna river,
Kalpi, UP; 5. Lateral erosion, Ghaghara river,
deoria , UP.
6 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
321,289 sq km (Jain et. al., 2018).
Among the others basins, mention may be
made of peninsular river basins such as that of
Godavari (312,812 sq km), Krishna (258,948 sq
km), Mahanadi (141,589 sq km) (Jha, 2013) and
river basins of east flowing rivers between Pennar
and Kanyakumari and between Mahanadi and
Pennar. Between them, these river basins drain
respectively (MoSPI, 2018).
The river basins of west flowing rivers of Kutch
and Saurashtra including the Luni basin drain
321,851 sq km area of western India (Jha, 2013).
The Narmada River basin of central India drains
98,796 sq km (ibid).
life cycle and fluvial features
to its merger with the sea, is divided into three
stages—the youth, mature and old stage quite
akin to the life cycle of humans. The morphology
and its depositional and/or erosional landforms
are accordingly different in each of these stages.
A term ‘channel’ (Fig. 1 and 2) is often used to
define the body of a river or conduit that contains
moving water. In its prime (youth), the river is full
of energy. It gushes with full force from its source,
gathers momentum and has a deep, down cutting
power due to the high gradient. It therefore cuts
deep gorges giving a ‘V’ shaped cross section to
its valleys (Fig. 1). The river valleys are negative
landforms and are carved by rivers under direct
control of climate and tectonics. The two margins
of the river channel are called banks, which may
be left or right, as viewed in the direction the flow
of river (Fig. 2).
In the mature stage, a river has more water due
to several tributaries joining it. The river has a
moderate gradient now, less than that it had in its
youthful stage, but more than that it would have
in its old stage. It has a broader ‘U’ shape channel
and still has erosional powers, to not only cut
down vertically but also cut laterally to give rise
to eroded banks or cliffs (Fig. 4). Lateral-fluvial
erosion is a natural hazard as it eats up fertile
banks of a river. The banks that consist of sand,
silt and clay in different proportions are prone
to such erosion as these are non-cohesive and
unconsolidated so can undergo weathering,
slumping and sliding (Fig. 5).
 A river accumulates a good deal of sediment 6
load along its way and may deposit some of it along
the banks as fluvial terraces or flood plain deposits
when the water rises and overflows its banks
during floods. A river may deposit several levels of T0
terraces which are older at the top and youngest at Active flood plain
the level closest to the river. T1
Floods occur when the discharge exceeds the T1
T2
capacity of the channel in a way that the water level
crosses the danger mark at a particular site and 7
inundates low-lying areas. The magnitude of the
flood depends upon the intensity of the rainfall, its
duration, ground conditions such as the breaking
of levee due to rise of water level and/or blocking of
the natural drainage.
River terraces are former river valley floor
surfaces. These are made up of sand, silt and clay.
The different levels of river terraces are largely
the products of river rejuvenation due to sea 8
level changes under direct control of climate and
tectonics. It represents the remnants of a river
channel or flood plain when the river was flowing
at a higher level. Due to the process of rejuvenation Little bar
(upliftment of an area or lowering of sea level),
the same river renews vertical erosion and down Braided bar
cuts its earlier floodplain. The older channel or
floodplain stands as a terrace above the present
day level of the river. In the Ganga Plain mainly 9
three such river terraces has been identified
T2, T1 and T0 (Fig. 6). The rocks and boulders
transported by the river are broken into rounded
to sub-rounded pebbles and deposited in order of
their fineness—larger sized pebbles at the base and
gradually finer ones upwards.
Point bars, braid bars and natural levee deposits
are among some of the depositional landforms of
a river. The point bar is a crescent shape deposition
10
of sand and gravel present in the inner side of the
bend of a meandering river (Fig. 7). Deposition
on point bar results from lateral migration of a
meandering river during flooding and may be as
thick as the depth of the river. The bedload of sand
and gravel deposited within the channel of braided
river are known as braided bar deposits while the
lateral bar deposits are channel bars deposited at
one side of a braided river(Fig. 8). Fig. 6. three river terraces - t0, t1 and t2 deposited
During the time of floods, river water overtops by Chhoti Gandak, deoria, UP; 7. Point bar deposits,
Chhoti Gandak, UP; 8. Braided bar and lateral bar
its bank and enters into the flood plain and deposits deposits, Ganga, rishikesh, Uttarakhand; 9. a natural
the sediments. The coarser sediments are deposited levee, Chhoti Gandak, deoria, UP; 10. Confluence of
along the river bank and the finer sediments are the Ganga (shown in upper part) with Burhi Gandak,
carried further onto the flood plain. Repeated Gogri-Jamalpur, Bihar.

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 7

11 a
Fig 11a. the western-most part of the Ganga delta where the hoogli branches off from
the Ganga 300 km to the north, and flows by the city of Kolkata before flowing into the
Bay of Bengal. high sediment load is evident in the satellite image by the light brown
colour of the water. the deep green colour depicts mangrove swamps.
Fig 11b. Ganga fan.
deposition of sediments raises the river bank and
results in a natural levee, which dips away from
the channel at a very low angle (Fig. 9). Several
tributaries join a major river, called the trunk river
to give rise to a drainage pattern. Very often, two or
more major rivers join together at a point termed
confluence—the confluence of the Ganga and the
Yamuna at Sangam (Prayag raj). Figure 10 shows
the confluence of the Ganga (shown in upper part
of the photograph) with the Burhi Gandak river
at Gogri-Jamalpur in Bihar. One can note the
contrast in colour between the waters of the two
rivers—Ganga carrying a larger sediment load
while Burhi Gandak comparatively pristine.
During the last stages the river joins the sea to
end its journey. It may form an estuary—a small
and narrow channel or place where it meets the
ocean and a mixing of oceanic and river water
takes place. A delta is formed at a place where
flowing water body joins a stagnant water body.
The river at such stages drops its entire load and
takes whatever path it finds to meet the base level.
The term evolved from the fourth letter of the
Greek alphabet—delta. The letter resembles the
8 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
11 b
shape created at the mouth of Nile where it joins
the ocean. The deltas of the river Ganga in Bengal
and Indus in the Arabian Sea have formed large
fan deposits known as the Bengal fan (Fig. 11a & b)
and the Indus fan respectively.
references
Jha A.K., 2013. Water availability, scarcity and climate
change in India: A review. Asian Journal of Water
Environment, 1(1): 50-66.
Jain S.K., P.K. Agarwal and V.P. Singh, 2018.
Hydrology and Water Resources of India. Water
Science and Technology Library, 57. Springer,
Dordrecht.
Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementa-
tion (MosPI), 2018. EnviStats India 2018
(Environmental Accounts) : Social Statistics Divi-
sion, Government of India, New Delhi.
Misra H.N. (ed.), 2014. Managing Natural Resources:
Focus on Land and Water. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd.
Photo CoUrtesY: JPL/Nasa
Singh D.S., (2018). Concept of Rivers: An Intro-
duction for Scientific and Socioeconomic
Aspects. In The Indian Rivers, pp.1-23,
Springer, Singapore.
 IN Br Ief
By Staff Reporter
The Karst CaVEs OF INDIA
The labyrinthian caves within the Meghalaya plateau present
a fine example of a karst landform.
K
arst landform is produced through
the action of water causing chemical
weathering of soluble carbonate
rocks such as magnesium and
calcium carbonates. Caves,
sinkholes, underground rivers, barren and rocky
ground and lack of surface water bodies are results
of such chemical processes in a karst region.
Stalagmite, halectite, stalactite pillars are some
of the main features of karst caves. Stalagmites and
stalactites are formed by the deposition of calcium
rich material brought by the water percolating into
caves or any other sheltered environment. The
layers represent each cycle of deposition that can
be dated by isotopic methods. The cone shaped
deposit that grows from the ground upward is
called a stalagmite while the deposit hanging from
the roof is known as a stalactite.
In India one can find karst regions in Andhra
Pradesh (Borra cave) and extensively in
Meghalaya. With an average annual rainfall of
1150 cm, Meghalaya abounds in karst features.
Photo Courtesy: hrishi the exPerimentor (CCo)
More than 1,650 caves and cave locations are
found in Meghalaya, out of which over 1,000
have been explored or partially explored. About
491 km of karst caves have been surveyed so far
(Laitphlang, 2018). The State hosts the longest
natural cave in India—Krem Liat Prah, 30 km, as
The article should be cited as GnY staff, 2019. Karst topography, Geography and You, 19(17): 9
also the deepest direct shaft in the nation—Krem
Shrieh, 8.9 km through a maze of fossil passages.
Meghalaya also has the highest cave passage density
in India with a labyrinth of paths underground,
especially true of the Nongkhlieh Ridge (125 km
of cave passages in an area of 30 sq km) (Prokop,
2014). The stalagmite in the Mawmluh cave located
2.3 km from Sohra (Cherrapunji) was recently in
news as it aided the discovery of an anomaly at
the 4.2 ka interval. This marked the beginning of
the Meghalayan age—also called upper Holocene
(G’nY, 2018). Each of the stalagamite layers of
Mawmluh had different levels of oxygen isotopes
which revealed 20-30 per cent decrease in monsoon
rainfall over the ages.
references
GnY Staff., 2018. Meghalayan age, Geography and You,
18(3): 114.
Laitphlang D., 2018. Meghalaya: At over 24,000
metres in length, world’s longest sandstone cave
found, Hindustan Times. Available at: https://bit.
ly/2Hispfa
ProkopP.,2014. The Meghalaya Plateau: Landscapes
in the Abode of the Clouds’, in Kale V.S. (ed.)
Landscapes and Landforms of India,World
Geomorphological Landscapes, Springer, pp. 173-
180, doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-8029-2_17.
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 9
 L a ndf or m s in indi a

The Cachar valley records a number of

neo-tectonic activities. A photo from
NIT Campus in Silchar, the main town of
this area, overlooking the river Barak.

10 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 By Kuldeep Kachroo

CaCHar Valley
A CAuldroN of AdverSe NATurAl pheNomeNoN
The Cachar Valley is a small, narrow sub basin of the Barak river. This area is
subjected to continuous tectonic activity, morphological changes and flooding.
Human activities have aggravated the situation.

The author is Director (Retd.) at Geological Survey of India, Faridabad, Haryana. The article should be cited as
Kachroo K., 2019. Cachar valley: A cauldron of adverse natural phenomenon. Geography and You,19(17): 10-16

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 11

T
he Cachar valley, a sub basin of
the Barak river basin in Assam,
frequently witnesses catastrophic
events of floods, landslides and
subsidence due to a combination of
tectonic, geomorphologic, geological and climatic
conditions. In 1781 a sudden rise of the river
wiped out nearly one-third of the population;
an earthquake in 1869 changed the topography
creating several depressions while the 1891
earthquake led to the subsidence of a number of
tea gardens in the area.
The Cachar valley is small and narrow, with
a width varying from 1 to 8 km and a length of
approximately 50 km. Silchar, the main town of
this area is one of the biggest in the northeastern
part of India. The valley in the north is bounded
by precipitous slopes of the Barail Range and is
limited in the south by north-south trending
low ridges with intervening valleys. The narrow
Cachar valley has a very fragile environmental
setting where mountain building activity is
currently taking place resulting in continuous
morphological changes. A number of neo-tectonic
activities are recorded in the area which range
in age from 40,000 years to a few decades before
present (BP).
The Barak River, which is in a deltaic state with
a gradient ratio of 1:21,500 in the Cachar valley,
has neither the gradient nor the flood plain to
accommodate the vast amount of water that a
number of tributaries bring to it. These tributaries
drain 60 per cent of the total water from the 27,000
sq km area of the Barak valley into the small
and narrow Cachar valley, resulting in frequent
floods. That the Barak River is controlled by
tectonic activity is evidenced by the river flowing
12 m below mean sea level (m s l) and displaying
drainage reversals despite being in deltaic
condition.
The Cachar basin, a part of the larger basin
of the Barak River that is the second largest
river of northeastern India, is part of the Ganga
-Brahmaputra-Meghna drainage system. Of the
total catchment area of 41,723 sq km of the Barak
basin in India, the Cachar basin has a catchment

Fig. 1: Location of Cachar Valley, Assam

Darjeeling Jorhat
Tezpur
Jalpaiguri Nowgong
Cooch Behar
Dispur
Guwahati Diphu Phek
Purnia Kohima Karong
Tura Jowai
Haflong Ukhru
Balurghat
Cachar Valley Silchar Tamenglong Imphal
Ingrajbazar
Churachandpur
Bangladesh

Barak River
Baharampur
Agartala Aizawl
Siuri

Krishnanagar
Barddhaman Lunglei
Chunchura
Saiha Area of study
Howrah
Alipur
Kolkata

Location of Cachar sub-basin. River Barak may be seen flowing through the centre of the valley.
The largest town of this area- Silchar is marked along the river.
Source: Kachroo et al, 1992

12 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

of around 25,086 sq km. The river originates from
the hilly areas of the Myanmar-Nagaland border.
It traverses through parts of Nagaland, Manipur,
Mizoram and the hills of Assam for about 403 km
before entering the plains of the Cachar sub-basin
at Lakhipur (Fig. 1).
At Lakhipur where the river enters into the
plains, the catchment of Barak is 14,450 sq km
while the total catchment at Bhanga is 25,086
sq km. This implies that in the short distance
of about 50 km, a catchment of about 10, 636
sq km of very high rainfall area is added to the
river. The water yield from the catchment area,
after it emerges from the hills, far outstretches
the annual water yield when it leaves Bhanga.
At Lakhipur the average annual yield is
14,077 million cubic meters (M cu m) while at
Badarpurghat the yield more than doubles to
an average of 29,600 M cu m. The monsoon and
non-monsoon yield at Lakhipur is 12,073 and
2,004 M cu m, respectively. At Badarpurghat, the
yield in the two seasonal extremes is 24,368 and
5,232 M cu m, respectively. This means that the
Fig. 2: Barak River morphology in different sections
a c
b 1977
2a. hanging bils/ cut-off meanders; 2b. Straight course of Barak beyond Badarpur; 2c. Barak river course in recent times.
Source: Kachroo et al, 1992
river has to accommodate the huge water yield
in a very short distance and in a narrow valley
which leads to immense problems of drainage
(Brahmaputra Board, 1988).
The area falls along the monsoon trough and
also receives heavy rainfall in the pre-monsoon
period from frequent storms rising in the Bay of
Bengal followed by the monsoon which brings
heavy rains in the catchment area, exacerbating
the problems of flooding.
Geomorphology
The Cachar valley is juxtaposed with a
contrasting tectonic setting where the available
data suggests that the area is subjected to
continuous tectonic activity. It is bounded by the
active Dauki fault. In fact the Haflong-Disang
Cachar basin has a contrasting geomorphic
set up from north to south, as it lies at the
confluence of a mature and an immature
topography. The Barak River separates the
geomorphic setup of the north and the south.
Major geomorphic units include coalescing
Changes in the Barak from 1920 to 2019
Cut-off meander
1920
Badarpur
Salchapara Silchar
1930
Badarpur
Salchapara Silchar
Badarpur
Salchapara Silchar
2019
Badarpur
Silchar
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 13
 2d. Bils and haors (dark spots) in valley
The rivers which join the Barak along left bank follow long and highly meandering routes,
while the ones which join from the right bank have a short and high gradient path.
Source: Kachroo et al., 1992
ridges and valleys in the south, narrow flood
plains of Barak with general elevation varying
from 15 to 25 m above the m s l, which are almost
flat except the depressions of the older channel and
oxbow lakes. In the north the major geomorphic
units are the terraces that occur as a tableland
4-5 m above the adjoining flood plains and high
structural hills which form the northern limit of
the basin.
drainage
The Barak River drains the whole of the Barak
valley and is joined by four major tributaries. The
rivers which join the Barak along the left bank
(south) in the Cachar valley follow long and highly
meandering routes with lots of water bodies like
bils and haors (Fig. 2), while those which join
from right bank have short and a high gradient
path. The Barak River meanders along a highly
entrenched course until it reaches Bhanga where
the river acquires a complete deltaic state with very
low bank and trough distributaries.
In the Cachar valley the river bank height varies
between 10 and 15 m. Within the valley, between
Lakhipur and Bhanga, the river is traversed by two
NNE-SSW trending ridges. These ridges divide
the river in three different blocks (Kachroo
et al., 1992).
14 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
channel characteristics
The Barak at Lakhipur is 150 m wide and 15
m deep. It maintains a straight course up to
Narayanpur from where it starts meandering.
The low mounds (hills) around Kashipur tea
garden restricts the river towards the south, thus
influencing the free meandering of the channel in
its flood plain. Near Silchar the course is restricted
to the north part of the flood plain under the
influence of the hills in the south. Beyond Silchar,
the river, instead of flowing through the centre of
the valley, flows hugging the southern bank up to
Badarpur. From here up to Bhanga, the river runs
straight and is highly entrenched (Fig. 2b). It is a
very abnormal state for a river, especially when
it is in the deltaic state. On both sides of the river,
all along its course, there are a number of cut-off
meanders some of which are of very recent
origin (Fig. 2a).
The cut-off meanders are left hanging along
the flood plain of the river and at places are more
than 8-10 m above the river level. These cut-off
meanders give rise to the depression—bils.
The formation of the cut-off meanders indicate
straightening of the course which is anomalous as
the river has a very low gradient, which is a deltaic
state for any river. The channels at places coalesce
into a complex of bil and hoars (Fig. 2d).
 Fig. 3a: Showing Transformation Fig. 3b: Showing profile of Barak River in Cachar
of Katakhal valley and the mean sea level.

Dhaleshwari

Katakhal
Dhaleswari
Jatinga Sonai
Katakhal Madura Chiri
Bhanga

Barak
Badri
Ghagra
Average water level Index
0msl Anticlinal axis
-4.18 -4.21
-7.29 -4.46 -5.23 9.60
-10.27 Section line
-6.46 -8.76
-11.41 -12.31 -12.31 Bed level

An irrigation canal, the Katakhal changed into a sinuous meandering river duplicating the pattern of the parent
Dhaleshwari in less than a century points towards intense tectonic activity in the Cachar valley.
Source: Kachroo et al., 1992; Section: Bramhaputra Board, 1988.

The tributaries of the left bank drain 33 per
cent of the Barak valley and bring in a water yield
of 40 per cent into the narrow valley, while the
tributaries of the right bank drain 5 per cent and
bring in a water yield of 15 per cent into the Barak
valley, thus loading the river with large volume of
water. This unprecedented input of water creates
anomalies in the drainage system of the Cachar
valley.
The complete transformation of an irrigation
canal (Kata khal) into a sinuous meandering river
and duplication of the pattern of the parent river
(Dhaleshwari) in less than a century (Fig. 3a) is
indication of the ferocity of the tectonic activity
of the Cachar valley. The Barak River profile is
perhaps one of the clearest indications that the
mountain building activity is taking place in the
area. There is no other explanation for the river
to erode below m s l (Fig. 3b) at regular intervals
particularly when the river has a very low gradient.
The flow of river below m s l only indicates that
the river is flowing over a continuously sinking
area along the synclinal axis (Fig. 3b), a sign of
continuous tectonic activity constantly changing
the morphology.
neo-tectonism
There are numerous evidences of ongoing neo-
tectonic activity in the area:
 Presence of buried tree trunks in Chandipur
tea estate on the banks of Barak dated 1570±90
years (Kar, 1990).
 Presence of buried vertical trees along the river
section near Ganigram.
 Presence of hanging bil (oxbow lakes and cut-off
meanders) all along the flood plain of Barak
River.
 Straightening of the Barak despite being in a
deltaic state.
 Entrenched nature of the Barak River.
 Sinking of part of a tea garden in the north bank
of the Barak River.
 Transformation of the Kata khal canal into a
meandering river in just a century.
 Flowing of river below m s l at different places
along the synclinal axis of folds.
changes induced by
anthropogenic activity
The Barak basin has been a scene of intense
anthropogenic activity since the nineteenth
century. The change in the demography of the
area and the increase in population has led to
encroachment of low lying areas which earlier
used to serve as flood cushions. Thus the rivers
were denied their flood plains thereby leading to

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 15


A view of Sadarghat bridge over the Barak river in Silchar, Assam from a Boeing 737-200 aircraft.
the problem of siltation of the river channel and
consequent floods. The roads and railway lines
built to cater to the need of the day have cut across
the drainage lines and do not leave sufficient free
way to allow uninterrupted flow of peak discharge
resulting in water logging.
Embankment (Fig. 2d) and road construction
has been on going in the valley since India’s
independence and so far embankments of more
than 750 km in length have been constructed
very close to the river banks resulting in greater
duration of the back flow into the tributaries and
lack of space for the surface run off to flow into
channels. The construction of embankment has
converted a part of the area into low intensity flood
zone of long duration from high intensity flood
zone of short duration.
Way forward
Clear evidences posit that the area is undergoing
rapid tectonic changes which are discernible.
The profile of the Barak, which indicates the river
flowing alternately above and below the m s l can
only be explained by constant down-warping/
16 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
phoTo CourTeSy: CommoNS WIkImedIA
subsidence taking place along synclinal axis and
uprising along anticline axis. This is in sync with
the young orogeny, east to west along the
Indian plate.
Anthropogenic activities have further
aggravated the situation. The root cause lies in
the engineering solutions that have not taken
into consideration the intensity of the tectonic
changes taking place. In order to provide a
solution to the problem it is important to identify
the exact nature of activity that constantly changes
the physiography of the area and scientifically
quantify the changes taking place within the
Cachar valley.
references
Brahmaputra Board, 1988. Master Plan Barak Sub
basin, 1-3: 1-26. Available at https://bit.ly/2HCwlZt
Kachroo K., N. Rajendran and S.K. Kar, 1992.
Geoenvironmental appraisal of Barak basin.
Unpublished report of Geological Survey of India.
Kar S.K., 1990. Report on drilling at Alipur (Silchar)
as a part of Environmental studies of Barak valley,
Cachar district, Assam (Interim Report).
 In Br Ief

By Staff Reporter

ColumnarBasalt
Hexagonal structures of basaltic rocks comprises columns and
are separated by vertical or horizontal fractures.

H
exagonal Interestingly, the basalts
columns found in the wall of a
of basalt pristine, 16 km diameter
standing tall impact crater at Marte
and pillar like, Valles, Mars, as also in the
look aesthetically pleasing nearby volcanic plains of
in the natural environment. Elysium Planitia–Amazonis
These structures form in Planitia and northeast
basaltic rocks and consist of Hellas, have been found to
columns that are separated exhibit similar columnar
by vertical joints and/or jointing as observed in
horizontal fractures in the terrestrial columnar basalts
rocks. Such features are (Milazzo et al., 2009).
extensively found in the
volcanic terrain of central references
parts of India especially in Degraff J.M. and A. Aydin, 1987.
the Deccan traps. Formed Surface morphology of columnar
during the cooling of magma, joints and its significance to
these rocks are fractured into mechanics and direction of joint
columnar prisms by thermal stresses. Spry (1962) growth. Geology Society Australia Bulletin, 99 (5):
recognised a ‘threefold structural division with a 605-617. Available at: https://bit.ly/2G3fjmE
lower colonnade, central entablature and upper Goehring L. and S.W. Morris, 2008. Scaling of
colonnade. Joints in many flows form in a definite columnar joints in basalt. Journal of Geophysical
sequence with master joints first, mega-columns Research: Atmospheres, 113(B10203): 1-18,
next, then normal columns and finally cross- doi:10.1029/2007JB005018
fractures’. Milazzo M.P, L.P. Keszthelyi, W.L. Jaeger, M. Rosiek,
Goehring and Morris (2008) have shown S. Mattson, C. Verba, R.A. Beyer, P.E. Geissler
by experimental modelling that the column and A.S. McEwen, 2009. Discovery of columnar
radius and striation size are proportional to each jointing on Mars. Geology, 37 (2): 171-174.
other and inversely proportional to the cooling Available at: https://bit.ly/2G4MKVX
rate of the lava. Further studies by Degraff and Spry A., 1962. The origin of columnar jointing,
Aydin (1987) indicate that columnar joints grow particularly in basalt flows. Journal of the
incrementally from exterior to interior regions of Geological Society of Australia, 8(2): 191-216.
solidifying magma bodies. Available at: https://bit.ly/2uYg2jI
Photo Courtesy: ViPul

The article should be cited as GnY staff, 2019. Columnar basalt, Geography and You, 19(17): 17

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 17

 L a ndf or m s in indi a

Narmada flows in a general ENE-WSW

direction over a length of 1,312 km. A view of the
Narmada rift valley, Bheraghat, near Jabalpur.

18 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 By Anulekha Prasad

NarmaDa’s
Distinctive Litho-tectonic Features
Narmada offers an excellent example of geological control over river
morphology where the waters follow a course of least resistance.

T
he role of geology, particularly of the 1
structure and tectonics as also of lithology
of a region in controlling its drainage path
is conspicuously displayed in some cases. Both
the structure and lithology offer weak planes for
water to cut through the rocks and follow a course
of least resistance. The Narmada River offers an
excellent example of this. It flows in a general
ENE-WSW direction over a length of 1,312 km,
draining finally in the Gulf of Khambhat in the 2

Arabian Sea. A remarkably straight course can

be seen in the topographic map (Fig. 1). It follows
the Narmada-Son Lineament, which is a part of
Central Indian Suture (CIS) zone that separates
two Precambrian crustal blocks to its north and
south with distinctive litho-tectonic features.
The CIS extends from the Delhi-Aravalli thrust-
contact in the northwest to the Singhbhum shear 1. satellite view of the course of the Narmada; 2. lineament
zone in the southeast (Jain et al., 1995). controlled drainage path of the river
The Narmada has cut deep gorges through
marble rocks near Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh. It geologically a graben or a sunken block, has
displays several palaeochannels near Bheraghat, been a palaeontological treasure. A number of
where older channels may be seen to occur rare dinosaur fossils and fossil skull of early man
towards north at a higher elevation. Because (Sonakia et al., 1985) have been discovered here.
of the upliftment of the northern block due
to ongoing neo-tectonic activities, the river reference
channel has gradually shifted towards the south Jain S.C., K.K. Nair and D. Yedekar, 1995. Geoscientific
in the Holocene/recent period. The path of the studies of the Son-Narmada-Tapti lineament zone.
Narmada-Son Lineament is also referred to as a Geological Survey of India, Special
Photo courtesy: the GooGle earth (toP); r K chaturvedi, Gsi (Bottom)

rift valley. Publication, 10 : 333-371.

The flow of Narmada is constricted by rocky
gorges, rapids and wide alluvial reaches that also
display meandering paths of the river. The study of
its channel forms in the alluvium reach by Rajguru
et al., (1995) has shown that channel size, shape
and bed forms in the Narmada are related to very
large recent floods that have built discontinuous
floodplains between the cliffs, creating a channel
in channel topography. Narmada valley,
Rajguru S.N., A. Gupta, S.N. Kale and R.K. Ganjoo,
1995. Geomorphology of a selected reach of
the Narmada River, India: A study in channel
form and behavior. Earth Surface Processes and
landforms, 20: 407-421.
Sonakia, A. and K. A. Kennedy, 1985. Skull cap of an
early man from the Narmada valley alluvium
(Pleistocene) of central India, American
Anthropologist, 87(3): 612-616.

The article should be cited as Prasad A., 2019. Narmada’s distinctive litho-tectonic features, Geography and You 19(17): 18-19

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 19

 l a ndf or m s In IndI a

LAKE
By Ratish Kumar Jha

L NARLonar crater is one of India’s spectacular landforms that is a well known

example of a best preserved meteorite impact structure on the volcanic
rocks of the Buldhana district of Maharashtra.
The article should be cited as Jha R.K., 2019. Lake Lonar, Geography and You, 19 (17): 20-21

20 MARCH 1-15 2019  GeoGRApHy And you vol 19, issue 17

 A
part from common geomorphic
landforms—mountain chains,
volcanoes, rivers etc, formed by
the dynamic processes of the
earth system, there are some rare
features that owe their origin to extraterrestrial
sources such as meteorites. The Lonar crater
of Maharashtra is a feature that is well known
world over as one of the best preserved impact
structure and the only one to have been formed
on the volcanic rocks on the earth. Situated
in the Buldhana district of Maharashtra, the
circular crater is 1.88 sq km in diameter with
a maximum depth of 150 m. It was formed
by the hyper velocity large impact of a huge
meteorite fall that pushed rocks into the earth
and consequently pushed out the host rocks to
form a 20 m high rim from the ground level.
The crater is significant as its geological setting
is similar to craters commonly found on the
surface of moon and other inner solar system
planetary bodies.
The Lonar crater was formed about 570,000
years ago in the 65 million year old basalt
of the Deccan Traps. The evidence of lake’s
extraterrestrial origin comes from raised rim
and the ‘ejecta blanket’—the material ejected out
during the impact and spread over a distance of
1 km all around the crater. The ejected material
comprises fallen debris, shatter cones, impact
breccia, maskelynite, and micro breccia. The
glass spherules and micro breccia are closely
associated with the craters found in moon.
The studies carried out by Chakrabarti and
Basu (2006) have revealed that the impact breccia
of the crater is enriched in rubidium (Rb), barium
(Ba) and lead (Pb), and to some extent in thorium
Photo Courtesy: NAsA
(Th )and uranium (U). These rocks also show
more radiogenic strontium (Sr), higher Rb/Sr
ratio and lower radiogenic neodymium (Nd) and
samarium (Sm)/Nd ratios.
Being a deep closed inland brackish water lake, the
Lonar supports a fascinating micro ecosystem and
varied biodiversity (Musaddiq et al., 2001). The water
shows high salinity and alkalinity (1460-2230mg/l)
with 11 phytoplankton species. The lake also houses
rare microbial, plant and wildlife. The string of old
temples all around the periphery of the lake, though
in dilapidated condition, gives an ancient look to the
environment.
There is a small lake adjacent to Lonar—Amber
lake, which appears to have been formed by a
fragment of the same meteorite or a smaller
meteorite, accompanying the main one.
References
Chakrabarti R. and A. Basu, 2006. Trace element and
isotopic evidence for Archean basement in the Lonar
crater impact breccia, Deccan Volcanic Province.
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 247(3-4):
197–211, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2006.05.003.
Gupta R.D., A. Banerjee, S. Goderis, P. Claeys, F.
Vanhaecke and R. Chakrabarti, 2017. Evidence for
a chondritic impactor, evaporation-condensation
effects and melting of the Precambrian basement
beneath the ‘target’ Deccan basalts at Lonar crater,
India. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 215:
51-75.
Maloof A.C., S.T. Stewart, B.P. Weiss, S.A. Soule, N.L.
Swanson-Hysell, K.L. Louzada, I. Garrick-Bethell
and P.M. Poussart, 2010. Geology of Lonar Crater,
India .Geological Society of America Bulletin 122(1-2):
109–126, doi: 10.1130/B26474.1
Musaddiq M., A.K. Fokmale and R. Khan, 2001.
Microbial diversity and ecology of Lonar Lake,
Maharashtra, India. Journal Aquatic Biology, 16(2):
1-4.
Satyanarayana S., P.R. Chaudhari and S. Dhadse, 2008.
Limnological study on Lonar Lake : A unique
brackish crater lake in India, in Sengupta M. and
Dalwani R. (eds.) Proceeding of Taal 2007. The 12th
world Lake Conference, pp. 2061-2066.
GeoGRApHy And you  MARCH 1-15 2019 21
 L a ndf or m s of IndI a

Desert landforms are result of various factors

including tectonic activities. A view of Sam sand
dunes, Jaisalmer.

22 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 By Sudesh Kumar Wadhawan

desertLANDFORMS
Deserts are diverse in nature and found on almost all latitudes.
Landforms in desert have evolved through long periods of time and
have been created by erosional and depositional processes of the
present as well as the past climatic domains.
Photo: PrASAD

The author is Director General (Retd.,), Geological Survey of India. wadhawansk.leo@gmail.com.

The article should be cited as Wadhawan S.K., 2019. Desert landforms, Geography and You; 19(17): 22-27

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 23

D
eserts are barren, inhospitable
dry lands with an abundance
of searing sunlight. These are
characterised by having a mean
annual precipitation of less than
250 mm to a maximum of 500 mm and very high
evaporation rates. Nearly 30 per cent of the land
surface in the world bears an arid and a semi-arid
environment (Cook and Warren, 1973). The
surface water drainage is ephemeral and mostly
ends up in inland basins—or drains seasonally
into depressions, thus forming a shallow and
saline lake or playa. These water stressed regions
are prone to frequent droughts and support
xerophytic vegetation that grows deep roots to
tap scarce groundwater that is generally brackish
due to impeded movement. Desert plants in many
instances cannot access freshwater for years,
prompting them to grow long roots to reach into
the deep groundwater (Dhir, 2018).
The four fundamental types of deserts are
the hot and dry (or subtropical) desert, the
semi-arid (or cold winter) desert, the coastal
desert and the cold (or polar) desert. Polar deserts
are covered with ice that cannot be absorbed
by plants. Antarctica is the world’s largest cold
desert. Mid-latitude deserts occur mostly deep
inside the continents and lie in the topographical
shadow zones—Takla Makan, Gobi, Nevada
and Patagonia deserts on the east of Andes.
However, the most widespread are the low
latitude deserts or the subtropical deserts located
between 20o and 35o north and south of the
equator, experiencing high pressure atmospheric
circulation patterns. These include the Sahara,
Arabia, Mexican Arizona, Mojave, Atacama,
Kalahari-Namib and the Great Australian desert
(Kar, 2014). The Thar desert of India is also one
among the above mentioned deserts.
Landforms in any desert have evolved through
a long period of interplay between fluvial and
aeolian processes operative during wet and
dry climatic regimes, especially during the
Quaternary period. However, periodic tectonic
activities have also influenced desert landscape
evolution. Desert landforms have been created
by erosional and depositional processes of the
present as well as the past climatic domains
(Wadhawan, 1996).
rocky uplands
Sharply defined rocky uplands or residual hills are
24 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
developed in arid environments and are erosional
landforms where vegetation is sparse and overland
seasonal water flow is effective in creation of
cliffs on bare resistant rocks such as monadnocks
over granites and gneissic rocks or plateau over
horizontally disposed sedimentary rocks
(Fig. 1 and 2).
Retreating cliffs produce a tabletop mesa
or a smaller steep-sided isolated hill called a
butte. High speed winds in the deserts perform
two kinds of erosional work—abrasion and
deflation. Loose sand particles lying on the
ground surface may be lifted and rolled over
thus carving striations and wearing out edges or
polishing thereby forming sand blasted faceted
ventifacts. A similar act of abrasion against the
resistant granitic outcrops would create curved up
excavation pits, hollowed grooves and sculpt what
are called as the tafonis. Cavernous weathering
that produces tafoni and alveolar relief along joints
is dominantly developed in many granite residual
hills and some ferruginous sandstone hills (Fig. 3
and 4).
Wind transported and blowing away of sand
is called deflation, that can result in carving
depressions or shallow blow-outs and blasting off
of the dune sands. Desert pavements are formed
when winds deflate the finer sand grains and the
residual lag deposits of coarser clastics are left
behind that may range in size from pebbles to small
boulders (Fig. 5). These gravel spreads are called
reg (Arabic for stone) or serir and form a protective
armour layer of closely packed resistant clasts.
ephemeral river courses
Owing to scanty rainfall, the deserts are generally
devoid of any integrated surface water drainage
courses. However, some channels incise their
intermittent drainage routes particularly along
the desert margins, through the aggraded sandy
sheets that end up in inland basins (Fig. 6). Remote
sensing and aerial photo-interpretation have aided
in deciphering several palaeo-channels that are
indicative of dominance of past wetter climatic
regimes when well defined river courses were
traversing through lowlands in the deserts.
lakes and playas
Closed lake basins in the deserts form an
important landform. Lakes and playas have
existed in arid regions episodically throughout
the Cenozoic. Studies of lakes have become an
 1 2

3 4

5 6

7 8

1: Jabel hill in oman; 2:

residual hill of sandstone
forming butte with bare cliffs
in thar Desert, Jodhpur,
rajasthan; Fig.3: tafonis
carved by abrading winds in
Sendra Granite at the margin
of thar Desert,Pali, rajasthan;
Fig.4: tafonis sculpted in 9 10
granite hill at thar Desert
margin, Mt Abu, rajasthan;
5: Desert Pavement at Bhojka
in Western thar Desert; 6:
Ephemeral channel incised in
thar Desert; 7: Sambhar Salt
Lake, thar Desert; 8: Didwana
Salt Lake, thar Desert; 9.
Active Barchan Dune Fields
at Sam, Jaisalmer; 10: Active
11 12
Barchan Dune Fields at Sam,
Jaisalmer; 11: rake-Like
Clustered Parabolic Dunes in
Central thar Desert;
12: Superimposed/ multi-
storied complex dunes in
central thar Desert,Shergarh,
Jodhpur, rajasthan.

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 25

important tool for reconstructing palaeo-climatic
changes at a regional level. These saline lakes
are the repositories of geological, geochemical,
bio-geochemical information of Late Quaternary
–Holocene period. A number of inland ranns
(ephemeral playa lakes), with a flat salt-encrusted
surface that get inundated during the monsoon
are found within the desert. Study of lakes
incorporates geomorphological, geological,
bio-stratigraphic and multi-proxy approaches
to reconstruct palaeo-hydrological and palaeo-
climatic changes in the deserts (Singhvi and Kar,
2004). The Sambhar and Didwana saline lakes in
Thar desert, India have been an important source
for production of common salt (Fig. 7 and 8).
Several playas in the deserts are also a rich source
of gypsum and calcareous mud.
sand dunes
Five basic dune types are recognised in the
deserts—crescent, linear, star, dome and parabolic
(Wadhawan, 1996). Dune covered areas may
occur in three forms—simple (isolated dunes of
basic type); compound (larger dunes on which
smaller dunes of same type form); and, complex
dunes (combinations of different types) (Fig. 13).
Fig. 13: Diagrammatic representation of various types of dunes
Barchan dune
Gentle windward slope
Wind direction
Gentle windward slope
Wind direction
Longitudinal dune Equal slopes
Variable wind direction
Wind direction
26 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
Barchan dunes
Barchans are the crescent-shaped mounds
which are generally wider than long. The leeside
slipfaces are on the concave sides of the dunes (Fig.
9 and 10). These dunes form when winds blow
consistently from one direction (unimodal winds).
They form separate crescents when the sand
supply is comparatively small. When the sand
supply is greater, they may merge into barchanoid
ridges and then prograde into thick transverse
dunes. Characteristically abundant barchan dunes
may merge into barchanoid ridges, which then
grade into linear (or slightly sinuous) transverse
dunes, so called because they lie transverse, or
across, the wind direction, with the wind blowing
perpendicular to the ridge crest.
Longitudinal or Seif Dunes
Longitudinal or the seif dunes are linear (or
slightly sinuous) dunes with two slip faces.
They are called seif dunes after the Arabic word
for ‘sword’ as the two slip faces make them
sharp-crested. Longitudinal dunes are associated
with bidirectional winds. The long axes and
ridges of these dunes extend along the resultant
direction of sand movement. Some linear dunes
Sleep slip face
Sleep slip face
Transverse dune
Gentle windward slope
Sleep slip face
Blowout dune
merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes. The
longitudinal dunes are found confined mostly to
the western and south-western parts of the Thar
desert where they show their grading boundaries
with the parabolic dunes on the west and the large
transverse dunes on the east and northwest.
Parabolic Dunes
U-shaped mounds of sand with convex noses
trailed by elongated arms are parabolic dunes.
These dunes are formed from blowout dunes
where the erosion of vegetated sand leads to a
U-shaped depression. The elongated arms are
held in place by vegetation; the largest arm is
recorded in the Thar desert to be upto 8 km.
These dunes occur as U-shaped, or hairpin dunes,
and in the Thar desert they occur mostly as
compound parabolic dunes or coalesce typically
forming clustered and rake-like parabolic dunes
that laterally share their longitudinal arms
(Wadhawan, 1996; Fig. 11). Parabolic dunes occur
in areas where very strong winds are mostly
unidirectional and fairly consistent as is the case
with the parabolic dune fields in the central and
south-western Thar desert.
Although these dunes are found in areas
now characterised by variable wind speeds, the
effective winds associated with the growth and
migration of both the parabolic and crescent
dunes probably are the most consistent in wind
direction. The grain size for these well-sorted, very
fine to medium sands is about 0.06 to 0.5 mm.
Parabolic dunes have loose sand and steep slopes
only on their outer flanks. Presently reactivated
crestal parts of the older stable parabolic dunes
support superimposed aeolian sands in the form
of linear dunes as obstacle extensions or climbing
and falling barchans thus forming complex multi-
storied aeolian deposits (Fig. 12).
soils and hard pans in deserts
Soils that form in arid climates are predominantly
mineral rich with low organic content, mostly rich
in calcium carbonate. The repeated accumulation
of water and evaporation in some soils causes
distinct salt layers to form. Calcium carbonate
precipitated from solution may cement sand and
gravel into hard layers called ‘calcrete’ that form
layers up to 50 m thick. Calcretes in deserts can
occur in a variety of geological and geomorphic
settings, including as regolith over hard bedrock,
within sheet-wash aggraded plains, colluvio-
aeolian sequences and older stabilised dunes
(Dhir et al., 2004). Caliche is a reddish-brown to
white layer found in many desert soils. Caliche
or clayey kankar deposits commonly occur as
nodules or as coatings on mineral grains formed
by the complicated interaction between water
and carbon dioxide released by plant roots or by
decaying organic material.
Way forward
Although deserts are water scarce regions and
are prone to droughts, yet they are a rich source
of common salt, gypsum and various other
minerals. The various landforms of deserts form
an interesting landscape that is specially sculpted
by arid conditions. The indepth study of these
phenomena has allowed modern engineering
to work out solutions that can help build
infrastructure and allow human habitation in
these regions.
reference
Cook R.U. and W. Andrew, 1973. Geomorphology in Deserts:
Los Angeles, California University Press,pp. 374.
Dhir R.P., D.C. Joshi and S. Kathju, 2018. Thar Desert in
retrospect and prospect. Scientific Publishers.
Dhir R.P., S.K. Tandon, B.K. Sareen, R. Ramesh, T.K.G.
Rao, A.J. Kailath and N. Sharma, 2004. Calcretes
in the Thar desert: genesis, chronology and
palaeoenvironment. Journal of Earth System Science,
113(3): 473-515.
Hess D. and D. Tasa, 2012. Physical Geography: A
Landscape Appreciation. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. New
Delhi. pp. 561.
Kar A., 2014. The Thar or the Great Indian Sand Desert,
in Kale V.S. (ed.) Landscapes and Landforms of India,
World Geomorphological Landscapes, Dordrecht,
Springer, pp. 79-90.
McKee E.D., 1979. In A study of global sand seas: U.S.
Government Printing Office,Professional Paper, doi:
10.3133/pp1052.
Singhvi A.K. and A. Kar, 1992. Thar Desert-In Rajasthan:
Land, Man & Environment. Geological Society of
India Publications, 9(1): 191.
Singhvi A.K. and A. Kar, 2004. The Thar desert in
Rajasthan since last interglacial-evidences from
dunes and lakes-a review. Quaternary International.
105:75-87.
Wadhawan S.K., 1996. Textural attributes of recent
aeolian deposits in different sub-basins of the Thar
Desert, India. Journal of Arid Enviornments, 32 (1):
59-74. Available at :doi:10.1006/jare.1996.0006 
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 27
 L a ndf or m s in indi a
By Sulagna Chattopadhyay
CoaStal GeomorpholoGy
Coastal landforms constitute erosional or depositional
features. Sea cliff, sea caves, sea arches etc., are
erosional landforms whereas landforms such as
beach, bar, barrier are depositional in nature.
I
ndia has a coastline approximately
7,500 km long that bounds its land from
three sides—western, southern and
eastern. A coastline may be defined as a
‘coastline of emergence’ or a ‘coastline
of submergence’ depending on whether it is
formed by the upliftment of land (or by the
lowering of the sea level) or by an opposite
phenomenon—subsidence or sea level rise,
respectively. The Tamil Nadu coast, for
example, represents a coast of emergence. The
northern part of the western coast of India is
‘submergent’, as a result of faulting, while the
southern part (Kerala) represents an ‘emergent’
coast (Khullar, 2018). The landforms occurring
in the coastal regions are carved out by marine
processes as a result of the dynamic physical
processes in time and space (Pethick, 2000).
The common coastal geomorphic features that
can be observed as different components of the
coastal oceans are straits, channels, continental
submarine margins and continental shelves
etc., (Nag, 2010). The tidal and the coastal
The article should be cited as Chattopadhyay S., 2019. Coastal geomorphology, Geography and You, 19 (17): 28-29
28 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
waves along with sediment flux are responsible
for shaping these landforms. The coastal
landforms also undergo changes due to climate
variations (glacial/interglacial periods) that
cause a rise or fall in the sea level. A coastline
may exhibit a straight or an irregular coast
(Fig. 1), deltaic coast (Fig. 2), mud flats (Fig. 3),
coastal dunes (Fig. 4), sandy beaches, tidal flats,
etc. The coastal landforms may be defined as
erosional landforms or depositional landforms
depending upon the process of their genesis.
Among the former are—chasms, wave-cut
platforms, sea cliffs, sea caves, sea arches,
chimney rocks etc., while the latter category of
landforms comprise—beach, bar, barrier, spit,
Photo: Rivulet leading to the aRabian Sea at CoChin, KeRala
hook etc.
The erosional landforms rise due to the
dynamic processes of onshore and offshore
waves coupled with the sediment flux that are
brought in by the weathering of the coastal
rocks or the finer sediment from the offshore
part of the sea itself. The coastal erosion often
eats up the highland adjoining the sea, as in
 1 4

2 5

1. Satellite picture of parts of gujarat coast showing straight

and irregular coastline; 2. a deltaic coast of West bengal.
note the deposition of sediments in the bay of bengal form the
‘bengal Fan’; 3. Satellite image of inner gulf of Kutch showing
extensive mudflats; 4. Coastal dunes at Pingleshwar beach,
Kutch; 5. Coastal erosion at Maravanthe beach, Karnataka.

Maravanthe beach in Karnataka (Fig. 5). When
the strong sea waves strike continuously against
a rocky coast, cliffs are formed. The energy of
striking waves is increased manifold by the
accompanying fine sediments. At times the wave
action erodes softer or more vulnerable part
of the rocks along the coast carving a cave. Sea
arches are formed when the waves cut through
the cliff making a hole that leaves a bridge like
structure in the rock. Part of the bridge along
with a supporting column may yield to intensive
wave action, leaving only the other column—thus
giving rise to what is called a chimney rock.
Marine transgression on the region adjoining
the sea may result in a relatively plain area that is
referred to as a marine plain.
The beach is a depositional landform, which
is formed as a result of deposition of reworked
sediments along the coastal slopes merging with
sea. The deposition of sand or rock debris at a
distance from the shore gives rise to sand bars.
These may get submerged by the tidal currents. If
one end of this feature is joined with the land while
the other half is in the sea, it is called as a spit or a
hook if the end towards the land is curved.
Coastal landforms and shorelines and the
changes imposed on them due to cyclones,
transgression of sea and tidal action, tsunamis etc.,
are best monitored by remote sensing methods
that repetitively use modern satellite images taken
over different time spans (Nayak, 2017). Such
studies have also been used to prepare coastal
vulnerability maps showing likely areas that may
be inundated by waves of different magnitude.
references
Khullar D.R., 2018. India a Comprehensive Geography,
New Delhi, Kalyani Publishers.
Pethick J., 2000. An introduction to coastal
geomorphology. Oxford University Press Inc,
pp., 260.
Hegde A.V., 2010. Coastal erosion and mitigation
methods-global state of art. Indian Journal of Geo-
Marine Sciences, 39(4): 521-530.
Nag P., 2010. Coastal Geomorphic features around
Indian Ocean. Indian Journal of Geo-Marine
Sciences, 39(4): 557-561.
Nayak S., 2017. Coastal zone management in India
-present status and future needs, Journal
Geo-spatial Information Science, 20(2):15-19.

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 29

 In Br Ief

By Staff Reporter

The ATolls of
Lakshadweep
With 36 low lying coralline islands, the Lakshadweep presents a
unique landform that barely rises 2 m above the sea level.

T
he Lakshadweep islands are situated large territory (Hoon, 2012).
on the northern part of Laccadive- Lakshadweep is the only atoll formation in
Maldive-Chagos ridge, lying off India. The atolls vary in shape from circular,
the west coast of India. It comprises sub circular to elliptical—some enclosed with
coral atolls, reefs and submerged lagoons, while others partly inundated (Mallik,
banks, which surround 36 low lying coralline 2017). The islands are flat and scarcely rise more
islands. With a population of 64,429 in 2011 than 2 m. The soils are structureless, formed
(Census, 2011) and a land area of 32 sq km, the by coral detritus and as such the soil fertility
island group is densely inhabited. The land area and water holding capacity are extremely poor.
accounts for less than 1 per cent of the total area Apart from coconut, little else can be grown
of the Union Territory of Lakshadweep. Taken here. Freshwater resources are contained in a
in totality, with the lagoons and the exclusive lens shaped aquifer 1.5 m below the surface.
economic zone—the coral atolls (Fig. 1) occupy a Freshwater is limited and the hydrological
Fig 1: Atoll formation
system is extremely fragile—the water being
periodically renewed by rainfall. Eleven out of
Single sand bar island the 36 islands of Lakshadweep are inhabited—
Reef Agatti, Andrott, Amini, Bangaram, Bitra,
Chetlat, Kadmat, Kavaratti, Kalpeni, Kiltan and
Shallow lagoon Minicoy. An old dialect of Malayalam is spoken
30 m on all the islands except Minicoy, where they
Reef speak Mahl and are culturally similar to the
Old Coral/ people of Maldives.
Lime Stone
Platform references
Hoon V., 2012. Livelihood and changing social values
in Lakshadweep, Geography and You, 12(75):
12-18.
Mallik, T.K., 2017. Coral atolls of Lakshadweep,
Arabian Sea, Indian ocean. MOJ Ecology &
Subsided
Environmental Sciences, 2(2): 68-83, doi:
volcanic island 10.15406/mojes.2017.02.00021.
part of Chagos Ridge Census of India, 2011. Lakshadweep provisional
population data sheet basic figures at a glance,
Government of India. Available at https://bit.
Source: Hoon, 2012
ly/2WnlFrg

The article should be cited as GnY staff, 2019. The Atolls of Lakshadweep, Geography and You, 19(17): 30

30 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 In Br Ief
By Sweta Bhusan
BadLandTopogrAphy
Badlands are a dense system of interconnected gullies and ridges.
The Indo-Gangetic plains offer one of the best examples of such an area.
R
avines or badland topography is
developed when the horizontal or
slightly tilted alluvial deposits, are
acted upon by gully and/or wind
erosion giving rise to a dissected
terrain. The upliftment of land due to neo-tectonic
activity results in rejuvenation of rivers. These
rivers or channels, equipped with the newly gained
energy, attempt to reach base level of erosion, thus
producing a dense system of interconnected gullies
and ridges that constitute badlands.
One of the best examples is perhaps offered by
the Indo-Gangetic plains of northern India which
represent one of the most extensive deposits of
alluvial in the world. These alluvial sediments
were deposited in the Himalayan foreland basin
between Siwaliks in the north and Bundelkhand-
Vindhyan Plateau in the south. The middle
alluvial Ganga plains, part of the larger Himalayan
foreland basin, exhibit development of an intricate
Photo: Prasad
The article should be cited as Bhusan S., 2019. Badland topography, Geography and You, 19 (17): 31
network of gullies, ravines and extensive dissected
landscape (badlands) carved out in the plains of
Chambal, Betwa and Yamuna rivers and their
tributaries in central India (Joshi, 2014). The
strengthening of southwest monsoon in the
Holocene is believed to be the reason for increased
headward erosion (Ranga et al., 2015). The present
day ravines consist of steep slopes and channels
separated by ridges, which gained notoriety as the
refuge for ‘dacoits of Chambal’ since centuries.
references
Joshi V. U., 2014. The Chambal Badlands, Landscapes and
Landforms of India, Dordrecht: Springer, pp.143–
149, doi:10.1007/978-94-017-8029-2_13
Ranga V., S.N. Mohapatra and P. Pani, 2015.
Geomorphological evolution of badlands based
on the dynamics of palaeo-channels and their
Implications. Journal of Earth System Science, 124(5):
909-920.
the ravines consist of a deeply
dissected landscape with an intricate
network of gullies. a view of Chambal
region, Madhya Pradesh.
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 31
 In Br Ief

By Rajoli Ghosh

Barren Island
Located in the Andaman and Nicobar, Barren island is
the only active volcano in India.

I
f one could slice into the atmosphere
the earth from that cooled the world
one end to the climate for more than a
other, the earth’s year. The evidences of
interior would Tambora eruption are
be seen to comprise an available in most of the
outer solid crust (0-35 ice cores drilled across
km), a highly viscous the world as volcanic
mantle (35-2890 km), a ash. The world has
liquid outer core (2890- several hundreds of active
5150 km) that is much less volcanoes where lava is
viscous than the mantle, and a intermittently thrown out.
solid inner core (5150-6360 km). In India, the Barren Island,
The mantle has molten magma which located in the union territory
finds its way through cracks or weak structural of Andaman and Nicobar is the only active
openings to rise to the surface of the earth in the volcano. Some volcanic activity in the past
form of hot lava, gases and/or ash in the form of has been reported from the nearby island of
volcanic eruption, as the pressure inside builds Narcondum. Geologically, the site of volcano
up to a critical limit. A volcanic eruption may be lies in the midst of a volcanic belt on the edge
silent and compose of only gases if the magma is of the Indian and Burmese tectonic plates. The
thin. On the other hand, if the magma is thick and volcano attains a height of 354 m with a 2 km
sticky, the gas cannot escape, so it explodes with a wide caldera. Since 1787, when the first eruption
loud thundering noise and explosion. The magma is recorded, the volcano is known to have
pours out from fissures or cone like features erupted more than six times notably in 1789,
flowing down the sides. 1795, 1803, 1852, 1991 (lasting 6 months),1994
Volcanic eruptions are known to have changed and 2005. The most recent eruption took place in
the weather, bring devastation to the area and 2017 (Koshy, 2017).
wiping out life—human, animal and plant—from
the area. The Mount St Helens’ eruption in 1980 references
killed thousands of animals and birds while the Koshy J., 2017. Why the Barren island volcano
eruption of Tambora, Indonesia, in 1815, killed erupt again, The Hindu. Available at: https://bit.
around 92,000 people and threw ash and gas ly/2M3HiJ7.
Photo Courtesy: NAsA

The article should be cited as Ghosh R., 2019. Volcanoes, Geography and You 19(17): 32

32 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 In Br Ief

By Staff Reporter

IndIa’s Tombolo Adam’s Bridge or the Ram Setu is an

interesting geological formation that holds
India mythical significance for the subcontinent.
Rameshwaram

Pemban I.
Ferry
Dhanushkodi Talaimannar

Adam’s bridge Sri Lanka

mannar
island mannar

A
tombolo is formed when a cuspate
foreland connects another coastline,
usually of an island, with a rocky
or sandy spit (Pavlopoulos, 2009).
India’s tombolo, the Adam’s Bridge-
Ram Setu, is a 30 km long chain of limestone shoals
between Rameswaram and Mannar island (KVNS,
2013). It separates the Gulf of Mannar in south-west
from the Palk Strait in north-east.
The sub-basin of the Gulf of Mannar is
understood to constitute the south-eastern
offshore section of the Cauvery basin, the southern
most of the mesozoic rift basins along the east
coast of India (Rao et al. 2010). The late Jurassic
fragmentation of eastern Gondwanaland into
India, Antarctica, and Australia initiated the
formation of mesozoic rift basins on the eastern
continental margin of India including the
Cauvery basin. Numerous deep extensional faults
developed in the NE-SW direction during rifting
which initiated active subsidence that resulted
in the formation of graben and horst blocks,
subdividing the Cauvery basin into many sub-
basins including the Gulf of Mannar.
A group of professors from Madurai Kamaraj
University asserted in 2007 that the Adam’s
Bridge was ‘a geological formation, which took
place around 17 million years ago when India and
SriLanka were detached in a drift’ (Mitra, 2014). It
had been geologically proven that sand bars were
formed at this time. Udhayana Pillai added during
the proceedings that the bridge belonged to the
Miocene era (ibid).
The region is highly dynamic because of the
confluence of the Indian Ocean and Bay of Bengal
and is subject to constant modification. Changes
in the region are evident from multi-temporal
satellite imagery. Strong sea currents continually
reshape the coastal landforms, as do cyclones and
associated storm surges.
references
KVNS R., 2013. Ram Sethu (The Adam’s Bridge)
Figures& Facts. Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University, Kakinada (OCTAVIA).
Mitra D., 2014. Dhanushkodi-a disaster that wiped
out India’s geography, Geography and You, 14(83):
44-47.
PavlopoulosK., Evelpidou N., and Vassilopoulos
A., 2009. Mapping Geomorphological
Environments, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg,
doi:10.1007/978-3-642-01950-0.
Rao M. V., Chidambaram L., Bharktya D., and
Janardhanan M., 2010. Integrated Analysis of Late
Albian to Middle Miocene Sediments in Gulf of
Mannar Shallow Waters of the Cauvery Basin,
India: A Sequence Stratigraphic Approach. In
Proceedings of 8th biennial international conference
and exposition on petroleum geophysics, pp. 1-9.
Hyderabad, Springer.

The article should be cited as GnY staff, 2019. India’s tombolo, Geography and You, 19(17): 33

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 33

 In Br Ief
By N Prasad
HotSPRINGS
High temperatures beneath the earth surface heat up water in
aquifers which emerge as hot springs.
H
ot water springs, as the term
implies, are the springs that
bring up heated groundwater
on to the surface of the earth. As
compared to cool water springs
that abound the earth, especially hilly terrains,
hot water springs are less common and emerge
only at favourable geological locales. As is well
known, the temperatures at the deeper levels in
our earth are much higher due to the existence of
molten rocks at depths. These higher temperatures
are transferred to the rocks in upper layers of the
crust, which in turn heat up the water present in
the pore spaces of the rocks. As the water heats up
its density decreases, resulting in its rising towards
the surface and finally emerging as a geothermal
spring at sites of geological weaknesses such as
cracks, faults etc. A term geyser is used for hot
water springs when the water intermittently
gushes out fountain-like from the surface and is
on many occasions accompanied by steam.
Though hot water springs are spread all over in
India, some of the well known hot water springs
are-springs of Panamik in Nubra valley,
Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir); the Vashisht
hot springs with temperature 590C (Planning
Commission, 2005), located near Manali; Kheer
The article should be cited as Prasad N., 2019. Hot springs, Geography and You, 19(17): 34
34 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
a view of Manikaran
hot spring,
himachal Pradesh
Ganga spring Akhara Bazar, Kullu; Tattapani on
the bank of river Satluj; and Manikaran Sahib-
all in Himachal Pradesh ; Reshi located on the
bank of river Rangeet in Sikkim; Kah-do Sang
Phu and Yumthang with water temperature
close to 500C (Tourism and Civil Aviation
Department, Govt. of Sikkim, 2017) also in
Sikkim. Most of these springs are known for their
medicinal and therapeutic values as the water
carries many minerals dissolved in solution,
especially sulphur. The sites of these springs and
others such as at Badrinath, Hemkund sahib,
Gauri Kund (on way to Kedanath shrine) and the
one near Yamunotri temple in Uttarakhand are
famous pilgrimage locations.
Mention may also be made of hot water springs
of Bakreshwar in West Bengal; Taptapa and Atri
in Odisha; Vajreshwari, Maharashtra ; and Sohna
in Haryana.
references
Planning Commission of India , 2005. Himachal Pradesh
development report. Government of India. Available
at : https://bit.ly/2HQdevk
Tourism and Civil Aviation Department, 2017. Hot
Photo Courtesy: Balu
springs, Government of Sikkim. Available at : https://
bit.ly/2M8rZil. Accessed on: May 24, 2019.
 In Br Ief
By Staff Reporter
Human induced
LANDSubSidence
Excessive withdrawal of groundwater leads to reduced water pressure in
aquifers resulting in reduced support of the overlying unconsolidated clay or silt.

L
owering of the land surface can Water table
occur due to natural causes such Well
as earthquake, faulting, landslide,
creep etc. However, humans can also
cause land to subside due to excessive
pumping of groundwater, extraction of oil and Sand and gravel
gas from underground reservoirs, subsurface
mining etc. These anthropogenic causes resulting Artesian squire
in inland subsidence holds serious repercussions, Clayey silt
especially for urban areas. There are several such Artesian squire
examples from south western United States Before extensive pumping of well
(Leake, 2016), Jakarta (Abidin et al., 2011) and West
Bengal (Ganguly, 2011).
The groundwater that is trapped in the pore Lowered land surface
spaces of sediments such as sand or gravel present Water table
in the aquifers is under pressure due to overlying
sedimentary and alluvial sequence. When the water
is withdrawn in excessive quantities surpassing
aquifer recharge, the aquifer suffers a reduced water
pressure. This reduces the support to the overlying
Artesian squire
unconsolidated clay and silt layers, resulting in
Confining bed
compaction of sediments which leads to visible
Artesian squire
reduction in the elevation of the land surface. After pumping
A study conducted by Ganguly (2011) in Singur
block, Hooghly, West Bengal has shown that the
rate of decline of static water table, the depth of
total aquifer system and the hydro-geological with urban development. Natural Hazards, 59(3):
characteristics of the aquifer control the rate of 1753–1771. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1007/
subsidence in an area. While the average rate of s11069-011-9866-9
subsidence was 0.92 mm/year during 1998-2002, it Ganguly M., 2011. Groundwater withdrawal and
increased to 8.7 mm/year during 2002-2006. The land subsidence: A study of Singur Block, West
estimated average rate of land subsidence was 6.13 Bengal, India. International Journal of Geomatics
mm/year for 1 m drop of static water table. and Geosciences 2(2): 465.
Leake S.A., 2016. Land subsidence from ground-
references water pumping. U.S. Geological Survey. Available
Abidin H.Z., H. Andreas, I. Gumilar et al., 2011. Land at: https://geochange.er.usgs.gov/sw/changes/
subsidence of Jakarta (Indonesia) and its relation anthropogenic/subside/

The article should be cited as GnY staff, 2019. Human induced land subsidence, Geography and You. 19(17): 35

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 35

 L a ndf or m s In IndI a

The glaciers cover 10 per cent of the

land surface on earth and sculpt various
landforms. A view from the road on the way
to Hattu peak, Shimla.

36 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

 Ice
By Rasik Ravindra

as an agent
a
of sculptIng
land
The glaciers have sculpted various landforms transforming the
geomorphology of earth. These landforms are the result of processes
of weathering, erosion and deposition under harsh climatic regimes.
PHoTo : PrASAd

The author is Secretary General, 36 I G C. rasikravindra@gmail.com. The article should be cited as

Ravindra R., 2019. Ice as an agent of sculpturing land, Geography and You; (19)17: 36-41

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 37

G
laciers are formed when snow,
compressed into large thickness
of crystalline ice mass, develops
an ability to move due to sheer
mass. These glaciers together
with snow and ice constitute the cryosphere
which covers nearly 10 per cent of the surface
of the earth (NSIDC, undated). The major
part of ice and glaciers is found as ice caps and
ice sheets in Arctic, Antarctic and Greenland,
apart from the Himalaya, Andes and Europe.
The glacierised area of the earth is spread over
nearly 15 million sq km of the land surface and
account for approximately 75 per cent of the
freshwater resources of the world (ibid). During
the Quaternary period that lasted for 2.6 million
years, the earth saw many changes in its climate,
forcing repeated glacial and interglacial cycles,
caused by the earth’s orbital changes including the
tilt of its axis (Milankovitch cycles). As evidenced
by the ice cores drilled from various locations
of Antarctica, such as Vostok and Dome C, the
earth witnessed eight cycles of ice ages each
separated by an interglacial period in its history
of past 750,000 years (EPICA, 2004). During the
immediate past ice maxima period (~20,000 years
before present), the glaciers covered 32 per cent of
the land surface and sculpted various landforms
transforming the geomorphology of earth into a
shape that we see today. Not far back, between 17th
and late 19th century—during the period called
‘Little Ice Age’—the world saw consistently cooler
temperatures that helped the glaciers advance. The
advance or retreat of a glacier is seen at its snout,
which may be defined as the terminus, toe, or the
end of a glacier at any given point in time
(Figs. 1 and 2).
There are several types of glaciers, such as
mountain or valley glaciers which originate in
higher altitudes of mountains and slide down the
slopes occupying valleys over large distances for
example the Himalayan or Alpine glaciers (Fig.
3). A tributary glacier may look like a hanging
glacier if its link with the main trunk glacier is
broken and it is left alone at the higher reaches of
the mountains. Tide water glacier (Fig. 4) on the
other hand extends up to sea and may give rise to
icebergs as its tongues calve into the ocean. Large
concentration of continental masses of glacial
ice spread over land in the form of ice sheets are
found in Antarctica (Ravindra and Chaturvedi,
2011) and Greenland, the former being the largest

1 2 3

PHoTo courTeSy: PArmAnAnd SHArmA, rASik rAvindrA, A L rAmAnATHAn, LAv kuSH PATeL

4 5 6a

1. Snout of dakshin Gangotri glacier, Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctic; 2. Snout of Bara Shigri glacier, chandra basin, Himachal
Pradesh; 3. Aerial view of mountain / valley glacier / cirque glacier of higher Himalaya, Himachal Pradesh; 4. Tidal glacier, ny Alesund,
Svalbard, Arctic; 5. continental ice sheet, east Antarctic. Schirmacher oasis in the forefront and Wohlthat mountains in the far north.
The distance between the two is nearly 100 km; 6a. Jagged hills of discontinuous disposition in the Wohlthat mountains, central
dronning maud Land, east Antarctic.

38 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

accumulation of ice on this planet (Fig. 5).
Landform development
The landscape in glacial and periglacial
environments is sculpted by the processes of
weathering, erosion and deposition under
harsh climatic regimes—caused by the agents of
weathering and deposition such as strong winds,
intense solar radiation, extreme cold surface
temperatures and the movement of glaciers. The
diurnal variation causes freezing and thawing in
the rocks, resulting in their shattering, producing
fields of broken rocks strewn in the form of block
fields. On the higher reaches of the mountain,
the glacial regime exhibit alpine topography that
comprise serrated ridge tops, jagged peaks, arêtes,
tors and/or horns (Fig. 6 a and b). The chemical
leaching due to capillary action and salt formation
imprint their marks on the landscape. The glacial
and fluvio-glacial action of the ice (with melt
water) together with the scouring action of the ice
act upon comparatively weaker lithology to give
rise to a number of depressions that gradually
become the loci of accumulation of melt water,
giving rise to melt water lakes (Fig. 7).
The advancing and retreating glaciers are
powerful agents of erosion and deposition. The
more prominent landforms under the influence
of these factors are described below:
Glacial Striation and Polishing: As the glaciers
move over the hard rocks, they carve out groves
and striations on the rocks below caused by the
boulders or fragments of the rocks carried by it
on the under side. The accompanying polishing
gives a look of varnishing to the rocks that can be
seen when the glaciers retreat and rocks become
exposed (Fig. 8 a and b). The presence of coarse
sand and pebbles on the top surfaces of the
outcrops as well as the spread of boulders on the
hill tops speak of an extensive coverage of glaciers
over a terrain. The boulders, up to 2 m×1.5 m
size, of completely different composition than the
rocks of the hills on which they are found, occur
as glacial erratic or perched boulders on the hill
tops vacated by glacier in Schirmacher hills of
east Antarctica (Fig. 9) indicating long distance
transportation.
Roche-Moutonees: These are glaciated bedrock
surfaces, usually in the form of rounded knobs,

6b 7 8a

8 b 9 10

6b. Sharp peaks, arêtes, horns etc. in Ladakh Himalaya; 7. chandra Tal, a melt water glacial lake at 4,500m (above mean sea level),
Lahaul Spiti, Himachal Pradesh; 8a. Glacial striations and grooves, Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctic; 8b. Glacial polishing and
varnishing on rocks underlying glacier, Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctic; 9. Perched boulder, Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctic; 10.
roche-moutonees observed in periglacial environment, Schirmacher oasis, east Antarctic.

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 39

 11 12
14 15
11. u Shaped glacial valley in Schirmacher oasis; 12. Patterned ground, Schirmacher oasis; 13. Two levels of lateral moraines of a
glacier in chandra basin; 14. medial moraine, chota Shigri glacier; 15. crevasses in the accumulation area of Sutri dhaka Glacier,
chandra basin Himacha Pradesh; 16. moulin, Sutri dhaka Glacier.
the upstream side of which has been subjected
to glacial scouring that has produced a gentle,
polished and striated slope. The downstream side
is subjected to glacial plucking that result in a
steep and irregular slope. The ridges dividing the
upstream and downstream slopes are therefore
perpendicular to the general flow direction of the
former ice mass. The modified roche-moutonees
structures (Fig. 10), typical of a periglacial
environment, are displayed along the northern
margin of Schirmacher hills, Antractica, where
one side of the hill is striated, rounded or flat with
minor gradient towards the upstream direction,
while the other side (lee side) has steeper gradient
in the opposite direction.
Glacial valleys: Glacial landscapes show ‘U’ shaped
glacial valleys as against ‘V’ shaped valleys in a
fluvial domain (Fig. 11). This is so because a glacier
cuts through the sides of the valley with equal
force as it cuts downwards while making its way
down the slope. A combined or post glacial fluvial
action on the valleys may exhibit downward
cutting of valley base, modifying the ‘U’ shape.
Patterned Ground: These micro-relief structures
are found near flat or moderately sloping
ground in a glacial environment and are
formed due to sorting of soil material under the
influence of the frost action in the upper layer
40 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17
13
16
of active zone of the permafrost (Ravindra,
2001). The response of the moisture present
in the soil and freezing and thawing causes
heaving of the soil resulting in the sorting of
debris in the forms of strips, polygons, circles
etc. The sorted polygons (Fig. 12) display a core
area, comprising medium to coarse sand with
cobbles and pebbles, while the outer rim shows
concentration of larger sized boulders.
Moraines: These are depositional landforms that
are seen as ridges, mounds or irregular mass of
unstratified drift left behind by a retreating glacier.
It comprises chiefly boulders, gravel, sand and
clay material. Moraines are the most dominant
landforms in a glaciated terrain that also play an
important role in unearthing the movement pattern
of the glaciers. Various parameters such as different
levels and morphology of the moraines, degree
of surface weathering, wind polishing, growth
of lichens, development of cryogenic and honey
comb-structures, etc., have been used to establish
the chronology of moraines (Bardin, 1971).
Moraines are defined as terminal, push,
medial or ablation moraines depending upon
their location and mode of deposition. While
the end moraine constitutes the debris dumped
at the terminus of retreating glacier, lateral
moraines are deposited on sides and often
PHoTo courTeSy: devenir deS
An erosional land surface in a glacial area in the Himalayan region.
occur as long, flat or low gradient high ridges of
boulders of diverse size and composition, loosely
held together by sand and clay (Fig. 13). Medial
moraines are present on the central part of the
trunk glacier especially where two tributary
glaciers coalesce to enact the union of two
lateral moraines (Fig. 14). Ablation moraines
are mainly concentrated along the margin of
the continental ice, especially at locations where
the gradient of ice sheet is moderate to low. The
areas southwest of the Indian Antarctic station,
Maitri shows many such trails at different
altitudes. There is marked parallelism between
the curvature of these moraines and that of the
margin of the continental ice.
Two other structures associated with glaciers are
crevasses and moulins. A crevasse is a fissure or
deep, wedge-shaped cleft or an opening in a moving
mass of ice such as a glacier or an ice sheet (Fig. 15).
Crevasses usually form in the top 50 m of a glacier,
where the ice is brittle and the strain is accumulated
due to differential movement. A moulin, on the
other hand, is a near circular, vertical to near vertical
well-like opening within a glacier or an ice sheet,
into which the melt water enters from the surface
and may lubricate the base of the glacier accelerating
the speed of the movement of the glacier, as shown in
figure 16 (NASA, 2006).
Way forward
Ice plays a critical role and is an active agent in
sculpting landforms such as block fields, melt water
lakes, roche-moutonees, glacial valleys, patterned
ground, moraines etc. With rising temperatures,
many such landforms will transform again, with a
greater fluvial influence.
references
Augustine L. et al., 2004. Eight Glacial cycles from
an Antarctic Ice core, Nature, 429: 623-628, doi.
10.1038/nature02599
Bardin V.J., 1971. Moraines of Antarctica, in Adie
R.J. (ed.) Antarctic Geology and Geophysics. Oslo,
Universitetesforlaget, pp. 663-667.
NASA, 2006. Moulin ‘Blanc’: NASA Expedition
Probes Deep Within a Greenland Glacier: NASA,
Available at : https://go.nasa.gov/2HvyR3B
Ravindra R. and A. Chaturvedi, 2011. Antarctic Ice
sheet, in Singh V.P., Singh P. and Haritashya
U.K. (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Snow, Ice and Glaciers,
Springer, pp. 44-54. Available at: https://nsidc.
org/cryosphere/glaciers.
Ravindra R., 2001. Geomorphology of Schirmacher
Oasis, East Antarctica. Proceedings of
Symposium. Snow, Ice and Glaciers, March
1999. Geological Survey of India, Special
Publication, 53: 379-390.
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 41
 A rc t ic - A n tA rc t ic

By Alvarinho J Luis

Polar regions
from the

Sky
Remote sensing is a space-based satellite technique preferred for
its repetitive coverage of inaccessible and rugged terrain for surface
characterisation. This paper showcases climate change in the
vulnerable polar realms by adapting different algorithms to the satellite
technology to infer surface signatures.

The author is a senior scientist at the National Centre For Polar And Ocean Research, Goa. alvluis@ncaor.gov.in. The
article should be cited as Luis Alvarinho J, 2019. Arctic and Antarctic from the Sky, Geography and You, 19(17): 42-47

42 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

Photo Courtesy: Johannes Plenio

sea ice is frozen seawater that

floats on the ocean surface.
a bird’s eye view of cold
daylight of sea ice.

GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 43

R
emote sensing (RS) is a tool for
data acquisition through two
primary techniques-active and
passive. Active RS is employed
during consistent cloud cover and
darkness, where the sensor in orbit (eg., LIDAR
and RADAR) sends its own signal and records the
backscatter signal. During cloud free conditions
however, the passive RS measures the radiation
reflected from the surface, eliminating the need
to send its own signals. Researchers working on
polar areas use this data to study temporal sea
ice concentration (SIC) changes, estimate glacier
surface velocity, map blue ice areas, detect crevices
thermohaline circulation this dense brine plume
eventually makes its way to the global oceans,
as the Antarctic bottom water. Measurements
from NASA’s Scanning Multichannel Microwave
Radiometer (SMMR) during 1978, and the Special
Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I) sensors from
1987 onwards, provide a time series of sea ice
concentration spanning 38 years, which helps
Fig. 1. Interannual variability of Antarctic sea ice
extent from satellite observations
Annual mean

Sea ice extent (million sq km)

12
and surface melt on the ice sheet etc.

Sea ice extent (million sq km)

Winter 17
10 16
polar sea ice variability 15
8
Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the ocean 14
surface. It forms in winter and melts in summer Summer
6
and has a high albedo (>90 per cent) which alters
the atmospheric heat budget. In the polar winter, 1980 1986 1990 1995 2001 2005 2007 2013
high convective heat loss in dark conditions Trend: 2.05 per cent per decade
freezes the fresh water leaving dense brine, Trend: 1.48 per cent per decade
which sinks down to the abyssal depth. Through Trend: 3.68 per cent per decade

Fig. 2. Trend in satellite-derived sea ice concentration

Summer Autumn

Weddell Sea Indian Ocean

Belling-shausen
Sea

Amundsen Sea ASL

Mapped over a period
Western Pacific Ocean of 1979 to 2015 sea ice
ROSS Sea concentration shows large
Winter Spring variations during summer
(Dec-Feb), autumn (Mar-
May), winter (June-Aug),
and spring (Sept-Nov).
Black contours envelope
areas with significance
p<0.05. Positive values
indicate increasing trend.

SIC trend

-0.6 -0.5 -0.4 -0.3 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6

44 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

climate scientists to monitor the interannual
variations and trends.
The satellite-observed sea ice concentration
data was used to derive sea ice extent by summing
up only those pixels with sea ice content greater
than 15 per cent. The sea ice covers an area of
about 14-16 million sq km in late February/March
(winter) in the Arctic and 17-20 sq km in the
Southern Ocean in September (austral winter). On
an average, seasonal decrease is much larger in the
Southern Ocean, with only about 5-6 million sq
km remaining at the end of summer. In terms of
overall trend, the Antarctic sea ice extent exhibits
a positive trend of about 2 per cent per decade
during 1979-2015. In winter (summer) the trend is
weaker at 1.48 (3.68) per cent per decade. However,
some regions such as Bellingshausen-Amundsen
Sea show a decrease of 3700 sq km per year
which is due to high melting during December
to May. Likewise, Weddell Sea shows a decrease
by 1500 sq km per year from June to November.
Nevertheless, the Antarctic sea ice extent exhibits
Fig. 3. Geolocation of Polar Record Glacier, East
Antarctic (top) and Landsat-8 imagery depicting the
position and extent of the glacier (bottom)
Antarctic
72o 38'E 75o 1'E 77o 24'E
68o44'S
68o44'S
69o42'S
69o42'S
70o40'S
70o40'S
72o 38'E 75o 1'E 77o 24'E
high interannual variability which is enhanced
post 2000 (Fig. 1). There is also large seasonal
variability in the trend depicted in Fig. 2 for all
the sectors. For example, after a record-high in
September (20 million sq km) during 2012 to 2014,
the Antarctic sea ice has decreased by 6.82 million
sq km during September to November, 2016.
This amounts to 18 per cent more loss than in any
previous September-November months during
the satellite era (Turner et al., 2017). Though this
increase is statistically not significant, what causes
it is ambiguous.
This small increasing trend in Antarctic is
contrary to results from coupled climate models
as well. The positive sea ice trend is attributed in
part to the stratospheric ozone depletion over
Antarctica that promotes a dip in the mean sea
level pressure in the Amundsen Sea (Amundsen
Sea Low, ASL), west Antarctica (Sigmond and
Fyfe, 2010). The small overall Antarctic increase
in sea ice extent appears to be the residual of a
coherent pattern of a much larger regional increase
and decrease that almost compensates each other
(Fig.1). These large local areal changes can also be
viewed as changes in the length of the ice season
(Stammerjohn et al., 2012).
The seasonal variability in sea ice
concentration results from a combination of
winds and ocean circulation. The ASL primarily
controls the atmospheric conditions between
the Antarctic Peninsula and the Ross Sea and
promotes northward-blowing winds over the
region (Fig. 2). The interannual sea ice extent
variability in the Ross Sea sector is significantly
correlated with the strength of these winds
and the depth of ASL. Stronger cold winds
facilitate coastal polynya formation along the
Ross ice shelf boundary and increase the sea ice
production (Holland and Kwok, 2012). Other
researchers attributed the positive trend to
changes in atmospheric circulation induced by
Southern Annular Mode (SAM) and El Niño-
Southern Oscillation (ENSO), with more La Niña
events since the late 1990 (Zhang, 2007). Our
understanding of the increase in sea ice extent is
fragmentary, as the climate models are unable to
replicate the observed scenario.
SAM, which is the index of pressure difference
between subtropics and coastal Antarctic, has
switched to positive since 2000. This is responsible
for a shift in the strong wind region called west
GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 45
 Fig. 4. Methodology adopted for estimation of the glacier surface velocity

COSI-Corr

Pre-Event Image Post-Event Image

Orthorectification

Correlation

North-South Result East-West Result SNR Result

Displacement Map

Vector Field

Fig. 5: Resultant surface velocity field for Polar facilitated by northward Ekman transport.
Record glacier located on the East Antarctica using The availability of cold water during summer
optical satellite data preconditions the surface for formation of more
73o40'E 73o50'E 74o00'E 74o10'E
sea ice in winter.

Monitoring changes in Glacier

velocity in antarctic
69o55'S

Observations of ice motion in glaciers are critical

69o15'S

to understand mass balance and its contribution

to sea level rise, apart from predicting future
changes. Most of the studies use Synthetic
Aperture Radar (SAR) and optical data with the
methodologies for velocity study through SAR
70o0'S

including Interferometeric SAR (InSAR), Digital

69o20'S

Elevation SAR (DInSAR), offset tracking, and

feature tracking which have reasonable results.
Feature tracking is one of the most effective ways
to study glacier as it allows the estimation of
displacement between two images-a reference
image and a search image. Since the 1980s, image
76o00'E 76o10'E 76o20'E matching technique has been used by manually
High (9.81 M/Day) inspecting the images and identifying the same
Flow direction objects in the images from two different time
Low (0 M/Day)
periods. Scambos et al. (1992) was the first to
perform image matching based on normalized
wind drift in the Southern Ocean towards cross-correlation. Image matching methods can
Antarctica. The surface water cools rapidly by be either area-based or feature-based. Area based
larger net surface heat loss and through upwelling, methods operate directly on image quantities

46 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

like brightness or phase. Feature-based methods
match features that are extracted from the images
in a pre-processing step. Such features can be
crevasses, rocks or other differences in digital
numbers. The window size to be correlated has
to be large enough to ensure that texture and not
noise is matched.
A study was conducted on the Polar Record
Glacier, east Antarctic located on the eastern side
of the Amery Ice Shelf (Fig. 3). It is the largest
outlet glacier along the Ingrid Christensen Coast,
bounded by Meknattane Nunataks and
Dodd Island.
The study used Landsat 8 OLI images
(panchromatic band) for the estimation of
velocity. The study for the estimation of glacier
velocity was first conducted on a single image pair
using four different tools-Image GeoRectification
and Feature Tracking (ImGRAFT), Normalized
Cross-Correlation (CIAS), COSI-Corr and image-
to-image cross-correlation (IMCORR). The
statistical evaluation COSI-Corr method yielded
pixel-level velocity with both magnitude and
directions. The pre-event and post-event images
were selected and ortho-rectified. The images
were then correlated with each other with a search
window size of 256 x 256 pixels (max value) to 8
x 8 pixels (min value) with the step size of 8 pixels
and mask threshold of 0.9 using the frequency
correlator option. The procedure is summarized
in figure 4.
The velocity of the Polar Record Glacier is
observed to be 1-2 m per day. The velocity and the
direction presented in figure 5 agree with previous
studies (Liu et al., 2017).
Way forward
Future studies should focus on bipolar sea ice
variations using a record of satellite-based sea
ice concentration over 38 years. This will also
help decipher teleconnections between the
poles. Sea ice volume estimates are crucial for
evaluating interannual changes in sea ice and
the contributing factors like freshwater released
from ice sheet melt etc. The changes in the ice
sheet elevation due to basalt and surface melting
by constructing digital elevation models using
Sentenal 1 & 2, ALOS –PALSAR sensors will
provide a wealth of information about the health
of the glaciers and ice sheet over the west Antarctic
in particular, where basal melt is accelerated.
Continuous monitoring of calving events along
the coast of Antarctica is required to detect
breakaway of icebergs from glaciers and ice sheets
to the oceans, since they are the major contributor
to current sea-level change. With a new satellite
NISAR, by NASA and ISRO, geospatial
applications to cryosphere will receive a fillip.
references
Cavalieri D.J. and C.L. Parkinson, 2012. Arctic sea ice
variability and trends, 1979–2010, The Cryosphere,
6: 88–889.
Holland P.R., and R. Kwok, 2012. Wind-driven trends
in Antarctic sea-ice drift. Nature Geosciences, 5:
872–875, doi:10.1038/ngeo1627.
Liu T., M. Niu, Y. Yang, 2017. Ice Velocity Variations of
the Polar Record Glacier (East Antarctica) Using
a Rotation-Invariant Feature-Tracking Approach.
Remote Sensing, 10: 42.
Scambos T.A., M.J. Dutkiewicz, J.C. Wilson and
R.A. Bindschadler, 1992. Application of image
cross-correlation to the measurement of glacier
velocity using satellite image data, Remote Sensing
Environment, 42(3): 177–186.
Sigmond M. and J.C. Fyfe, 2010. Has the ozone
hole contributed to increased Antarctic sea ice
extent?, Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L18502,
doi:10.1029/2010GL044301.
Stammerjohn S., R. Massom, D. Rind, and D.
Martinson, 2012. Regions of rapid sea ice change:
An inter-hemispheric seasonal comparison,
Geophysical Research Letters, 39, L06501,
doi:10.1029/2012GL050874
Turner J., J.C. Comiso, G.J. Marshall, T.A. Lachlan-
Cope, T. Bracegirdle, T. Maksym, M.P. Meredith,
Z. Wang, and A. Orr, 2009. Non-annular
atmospheric circulation change induced by
stratospheric ozone depletion and its role in
the recent increase of Antarctic sea ice extent,
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GeoGraphy and you  March 1-15 2019 47
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48 March 1-15 2019  GeoGraphy and you vol 19, issue 17

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