River dynamics and hazard assessment in the Himalayan foreland

Supported by

UKIERI
UK-India Education and Research Initiative

The Himalayas are the largest active convergent mountain belt on Earth, with topographic relief of over 8 km, frequent large earthquakes and high orographic rainfall. These conditions impose severe natural hazards on the densely-populated Gangetic Plain of northern India, including landslides near the Himalayan mountain front, which deliver high quantities of sediment to the river systems, leading to channel aggradation and widespread flooding in the Gangetic Plain. Understanding the controls on these hazards is imperative for both assessment and mitigation and for forecasting responses to climate change.

This research tests the hypothesis that both landslide and flood hazards are intimately linked to erosion and deposition of sediment along the Himalayan front. This erosion and deposition is driven by local base level changes, and is highly variable in space and time. Base level changes drive flood risk in the Plain but also feed back to influence hazards along the mountain front.

Collaborators: