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Exposure of Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) at the mountain exit of a drainage at Khetpurali village in Panchkula district Haryana. (A). The Holocene piedmont gravel beds overridden by Middle Siwalik rocks on the right bank. (B.) At the right bank the under-thrusted gravel showing rotations below the HFT.
Source publication
Buried course of the desiccated river Saraswati/ Ghagghar-Hakara from Himalayan front to Arabian Sea through the plains of NW India has been in discussion and scientific investigations since ~140 years due to its importance in societal evolution and drainage disorganization. Its plains were inhabited by the Harappan/ Indus civilization (7000–1200BC...
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Context 1
... is mostly a hidden feature but recently many exposures have been mapped. One such exposure is recorded at the Khetpurali and Dulupur villages (Survey of India Toposheet nos 53B/14 and 53F/2) in Panchkula district, Haryana where the Tatrot Formation of Upper Siwalik rocks override the river terrace gravels ( Kumar et al., 2012; Fig.5). The thrust dips northerly with 300 m wide crushed zone. ...
Context 2
... is mostly a hidden feature but recently many exposures have been mapped. One such exposure is recorded at the Khetpurali and Dulupur villages (Survey of India Toposheet nos 53B/14 and 53F/2) in Panchkula district, Haryana where the Tatrot Formation of Upper Siwalik rocks override the river terrace gravels ( Kumar et al., 2012; Fig.5). The thrust dips northerly with 300 m wide crushed zone. ...
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... Learning from the water management system of the Indo-Saraswati civilization (Saini et al., 2020), and the future development scenario with modern techniques to identify the freshwater resources and recharge them, the authors believe that the area of Khadir can be a self-sustained region as far as the upcoming requirements of freshwater are concerned. Hence, it is essential to identify groundwater potential zones and sustainable groundwater extraction methods in the Khadir Island. ...
In the present work, remote sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS), field investigation, and mapping methods/techniques were incorporated to demarcate the groundwater potential zones in the Khadir Island of the Kachchh region. Preliminary work consists of reconnaissance surveys and the preparation of various thematic maps of the region. The lithology (Khadir formation of Mesozoic period), slope, soil, land use and land cover (LULC), lineament density (Faults, fractures and linear valleys), drainage density, and geomorphology thematic maps were prepared using Advanced Land Observation Satellite - Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (ALOS PALSAR) data with 12.5 m spatial resolution, Sentinel-2 data (bands 8, 4, and 3), and ICAR- National Bureau of Soil Survey and Land Use Planning and Geological Survey of India (GSI) published maps. The Groundwater Potential Index (GWPI) was determined by integrating and computing the groundwater thematic maps. The groundwater potential map was further validated using the Cohen's Kappa statistic method. The GWPI determines a high groundwater potential zone in the study area, of which about 12.24% and 19.41% of the area are excellent and very good potential zones for groundwater extraction, respectively. The study shows that the Cohen's Kappa coefficient of 0.767, which falls under the “Good Strength of Agreement” validates the result and determines that the Western and Eastern parts of the study area have greater groundwater potential zones.
... During 9 to 4.5 ka, there is an end of supply of the Higher Himalayan sediments at 4.5 ka due to a break in the Sutlej-Ghaggar connection, which turned the Ghaggar into an ephemeral system (Chatterjee et al. 2019). The possible causes of the drying up of the Saraswati River and diversion of Sutlej River towards west and Yamuna River towards east are attributed to climate change as well as the development of active faults (Himalayan Frontal Trust and tear faults), basement structure (Delhi Sargodha Ridge) and seismicity in Haryana (Pati et al. 2018;Saini et al. 2020). Srivastava et al. (2013) found that the Ganga-Indus water divide caused separation of Yamuna River basin in the east and Sutlej River basin in the north-west by an arched upland surface due to neotectonic movement along Delhi-Ambala basement high. ...
... Other palaeochannels in Punjab are younger than SPC which have evolved gradually during upliftment of Yamuna-Sutlej interfluve region (Srivastava et al. 2013;Tewari et al. 2021). However, recent geochronological studies shifted the age of this active river course to 18-12 ka Saini et al. 2020;Tewari et al. 2021). ...
Remote Sensing technique with multi-sensor satellite images is found to be a useful tool in delineation of the palaeochannel network in arid to semi-arid regions in India. Principal Component Analysis method with fused images (optical and microwave data) shows a wide N-S trending Sutlej Palaeochannels (SPC) and narrow NE-SW trending palaeochannels in central Punjab. High-resolution Electrical Resistivity Tomography (HERT) survey and litholog data analysis provide good groundwater prospect zone of the palaeochannel. Interpretation of 2D resistivity tomograms with Wenner-Schlumberger method exhibit a thick zone of low resistiv-ity layer (saturated coarse-grained sand) at a depth of 40 m. Integrated geo-tectonic study provides clue that the river migration of Sutlej River from N-S to E-W direction was due to a major tectonic upliftment in the Himalaya. Geochronological data analysis indicates that the avulsed channel of SPC was the main course of old Ghaggar River, linked to the 'Lost Saraswati River' in northwest India. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Finally, using the catchment area of individual basins, we estimate their channel belt width and average annual discharge using the regime equations. Further, following the hypothesis that once the Saraswati River used to carry the combined flow of the Sutlej, Ghaggar, and Yamuna rivers catchment Yashpal, 1980;Saini et al., 2020;Kar, 2021), we sum the estimated discharge of these rivers to obtain a possible combined discharge of the Saraswati River. This provides a discharge estimate of the lost Saraswati River of the order of 3000 m 3 s − 1 at Suratgarh. ...
It has been suggested over a century ago that the Saraswati was a large river that flowed in the Sutlej-Yamuna interfluve, a region that is now devoid of any such large river system. This large river was commonly related to the Saraswati River described in the Rig-veda, and was correlated with the discovery of several Harappan sites in the region. Presently, there is only the ephemeral Ghaggar River that flows here with its limited discharge along the abandoned course of the ‘lost’ Saraswati. Also, it was hypothesised earlier that this region was drained by the waters from the drainage basins of both the glacier/monsoon-fed Sutlej and Yamuna rivers. It therefore stands to reason that this region should preserve evidence of the record of the past discharge variability that impacted this region prior to the major drainage reorganisation.
This study is an attempt to reconstruct the palaeohydrology of the Saraswati River. We investigate the hypothesis, that the ancient Saraswati River used to carry a combined flow of the Sutlej, Ghaggar and Yamuna river catchments. To examine this important question, we use the channel belt width, catchment area and average annual discharge of different rivers presently flowing on Indus-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains in the Himalayan Foreland. We use these variables to establish the empirical scaling relationships between the channel belt width and average annual discharge to the catchment area. We observed rivers having a larger catchment usually carry a higher discharge and have a wider channel belt. Finally, we use these empirical scaling relationships to estimate the channel belt width and average annual discharge of the lost Saraswati River at the time when it possibly carried the combined flow of the Sutlej, Ghaggar and Yamuna rivers catchments. We obtained the average annual discharge discharge of the Saraswati River of about an order of 3000 m³s⁻¹ and channel belt width of about 11 km at the location downstream of the postulated confluence of the Sutlej and Yamuna rivers at Suratgarh.
... River; and a second from Jind to Hansi to Bhadra (JHB) (Fig. 1, Saini et al. 2020). The TFS channel has a perceptible depression near Fatehabad and continues to be flood prone, which was referred as the Palaeo-Ghagghar and Palaeo-Chautang channels by Dave et al. (2019). ...
The Quaternary sediments and landscapes of the plains of north-western Haryana and the ancient settlement mounds distributed across them have great potential to reveal the history of the evolution and disappearance of palaeorivers and their relationship to the Indus Civilization and Early Historic periods in northwest India. There are numerous palaeochannels in Haryana, and their distribution and burial in the subsurface creates difficulties for accessing the archives and proxies necessary for developing insight into the timing of river flow and shift, and its relationship to settled populations. This paper investigates the deep and shallow subsurface sedimentary lithology of an area around Sirsa that is close to the course of the modern Ghagghar River. The paper presents additional age constraints provided by dates from the site of Rakhigarhi and examines a sedimentary substrate of a new archeological mound situated on the palaeochannel identified at a mound near Dhir village. New AMS radiocarbon dates of drifted charcoal from natural and cultural strata suggest human activity and/or natural burning in this region as early as 10405 to 10190 cal BP (8455 to 8240 cal BC). The substrate sediments recorded at Dhir mound indicate flooding events after the urban phase of the Indus Civilization.
Supplementary material at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.5604984
... The area is covered by Aeolian deposits in the recent past with increasing aridity as a result of transportation of sand from nearby Rajasthan area. The Drishdawati and Saraswati rivers have receded leaving inter-locked alluvial fans which were later covered through Aeolian deposits, hence cause present day landscape occurrence (Valdia et al. 2016;Saini et al. 2019). The topography of the study area shows monotonous plains having sporadic presence of bars, depressions, heaps of sand, levees and relict channel courses. ...
Watershed prioritization, particularly in the context of watershed plans and management programmes, is part of the water resources development. Actually, morphometric analysis aided by geospatial technology is accomplished in prioritizing sub-watersheds according to their natural features of availability of resources. The information relating to the study area's geomorphology and erosion factors are used in the area and to prepare the local models of the ungauged seven sub-watersheds, which otherwise lack adequate hydrological database. The region under investigation has observed the rising increases in the groundwater table. As a result of the failure to look at the interrelated criteria that influence water-show planning, the watershed development plans so far implemented in the region fail. For this respect, for the pre-oral measurement of seven sub-sheds, the integrated methodology involving morphometric aspects derived from geo-spatial technology is used. The basic mathematical equations used in a GIS setting have been used to measure a series of the aspects of hydrology in the rotation, stream order, stream length, stream frequency, drainage densities, texture ratio, shape factor, circulatory ratio, elongation ratio, bifurcation and compactness ratioArcGIS10.3 was used to perform the geospatial research. The results divided the entire watershed into four priority areas, namely Big, medium, small, and very weak. The results are relevant in order to establish soil and water conservation plans in the Man river basin in Akola and Buldhana districts in Central Indian, as well as inadequate production and management of groundwater.
Ab s t rac t In this paper we have prepared the maps of Palaeo-channels of rivers of Kachchh region of Gujarat. One can easily detect Palaeo channels in the Kachchh region of Gujarat as many rivers from Punjab, Rajasthan and J8K were flowing in this region. There are literature evidences and local stories that the people travelled using boats in these rivers and there were tax collection centers on the banks of these rivers. Kachchh was the entry gate to Sindh. Sindh was one of the most prosperous regions once upon a time as there were riverine ports which had enormous import and export activities. But, due to tectonic activities the rivers of western India shifted their courses westwards. Hence many rivers originating from Himalayas flow from Punjab to present day Pakistan. There were mighty rivers like Saraswati flowing in this region. It is also said that the culture flourished on the banks of Indus and Saraswati was known as Sapt-Sindhu Civilization. In this paper, we have tried to map the route of the Palaeo channels that flows through the desert areas of Rajasthan and Gujarat.
The Yamuna-Sutlej interfluve area has been important because of the presence of several palaeochannels that are hypothesized to be linked to Rigvedic river Saraswati that is now lost in time and space. Using satellite data, followed by field studies, the palaeo-course of a major river system in parts of the foothills of Himalaya, piedmont zone and plains of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan has been delineated. The palaeocourse of this major river system originating from south of Ropar, flowing southwards, combined with its tributaries including Ghaggar near Shutrana in Punjab flowed further south-west in parts of India and Pakistan culminating at Kutch. Along the length of interpreted palaeochannel, numerous Indus valley civilization sites are present. The field investigations with systematic sampling for geochronological analysis using thermo luminescence/optically stimulated luminescence (TL/OSL) technique, petro-mineraosedimentological studies have substantiated the existence of palaeochannels on the ground. Comprehensive remote-sensing investigations backed by geochronological input reveals that Sutlej palaeochannel was the main contributor of perennial water source at around 12±1 ka before shifting its course to present state and the palaeochannels between Yamuna-Sutlej interfluve were its tributaries, the most important being Ghaggar. The Sutlej palaeochannel was active till 12 ka and was receiving Himalayan sediments before the advent of aeolian episodes at around 12 ka and 7.4±0.4 ka. However, sediments from the river bed of the present Ghaggar river near Anupgarh indicates that the palaeochannel was receiving water supply till 5.2 ka having sufficient energy to deposit fine sand.
The Sutlej river, one of the important tributaries of the Indus river, debouches into the Punjab-Haryana plains and makes a conspicuous change in its flow direction i.e., from southwest to west. This anomalous flow of the Sutlej river has given rise to a large interfluve between the Indus and Ganga river systems, in which an ephemeral Ghaggar river flows towards southwest that terminates inland. This study investigates the large interfluve between the Sutlej and the Yamuna rivers for its drainage reorganization including the westward deflection of the Sutlej river, using landforms and stream orientation analysis.
The drainage network in the area can be divided into two orientation domains - west flowing and south-west/south flowing. Statistical and vector analysis of around 600 drainage vectors (including paleochannels and modelled flow vectors) and more than 9000 slope vectors indicate that the present-day drainage networks and their directivity vary with respect to the paleo-drainage networks as well as the modelled flow patterns. Regional slope deviatory and slope parallel channels point towards a shift of the Sutlej river from south to west in multiple stages. It is suggested that the westward avulsion of the Sutlej river is primarily driven by tectonics of the frontal zone, aided possibly by high magnitude extreme hydro-meteorological events.
