Identification of suitable human habitation sites through the river bank stability analysis on Ganga–Pagla interfluves area of West Bengal, India

Abstract

One of the important geo-hazards associated with a river is bank erosion. In recent years the district of Malda has been facing ravages of this hazard by the continuous left bank erosion by the river Ganga. Although the entire district has witnessed rapid bank erosion, the village of Panchanandapur has become famous in terms of this hazard as it has been at the receiving end for a major proportion. This paper focuses on the topography and land use of this area so as to understand the probable causal mechanism and vulnerability of Panchanandapur. Bank Erosion Hazardous Index and Near Bank Stress have also been done for stability measurements of both banks. Besides analysing the spatial variation in the aforesaid parameters, we have also postulated the favourable sites for the growth of settlements based on information obtained from the analysis. DEM based study and field-based land use morphology indicates that the current location of Panchanandapur Village is highly vulnerable to bank erosion as well as water logging since it is located between the natural levees formed by the Ganga River and one of its major distributaries, the Pagla. Needless to state that the village is at a significant lower elevation than the levees of Ganga and Pagla. Furthermore, this study has pointed out that the current levee of the Pagla is currently ideally suited for settlement growth as it appears to be reasonably inert to bank erosion and water logging.