Assessment of On-going tectonic deformation in the Goriganga River Basin, Eastern Kumaon Himalaya Using Geospatial Technology

Abstract

The Goriganga river basin lies in the Northeast Kumaon Himalaya and is found suitable for assessing active tectonics at different scales. In addition, this study focuses on the assessment of ongoing tectonic activity through morphotectonic measurement of the Goriganga river basin, which is an ideal location for such analysis and Goriganga river basin transects with three major domains of Himalaya’s lithotectonic structures viz., Tethys, Vaikrita, and Lesser Himalayan Domain. To realize this task, the ASTER Digital Elevation Model was used and found suitable to extract different morphotectonic indices such as Stream Length Gradient (SL), Hypsometric Integral (HI), Length of Overland Flow (Lg), Drainage Density (Dd) and Channel Sinuosity (Cs). Results of these important indices, including SL (18- 4737) HI (0.26- 0.57), and Lg (0.08- 0.19) depict greater variability in the tectonics activity while these values are correspondingly high in the close proximity of lithotectonic units, showing strong tectonic activity. In the extreme south, the Rauntis Gad basin strongly influences tectonism due to transecting syncline and anticline as well as unknown active faults.