Fluvio-hydrological drivers largely control the morphology and stability of channel bars in the transboundary Himalayan River Jaldhaka
摘要
This present study focused on the spatiotemporal morphological dynamics and stability of channel bars of a tropical braided River Jaldhaka. Eleven sub-reaches, ten randomly selected individual channel bars and nine cross sections across three bars with the channel of Jaldhaka River were studied for the morphological characteristics and stability assessment. A set of channel geometry parameters (length, width, perimeters, bar area, and depth) was considered for the estimation of channel behaviour and several suitable braiding indices were calculated for the understanding of braiding intensity using geospatial datasets (1980–2023). Grain size analysis of eleven samples has been executed for the evaluation of sediment characteristics in bar morphology. Higher Sinuosity Index (SI) values in the lower sub-reaches (SRs) and lower SI near the sub-reaches of the Piedmont zone have been found due to changing channel gradients. The results focused on the lower Braiding Index (BI) in the SR-11 at Kurigram of Bangladesh whereas, the bars of this sub-reach are less vegetated than other sub-reaches and non-cohesive (higher proportion of sand and silt) banks and materials are responsible for the dynamicity of channel bars. B8, B9, and B10 indicated the highly dynamic but B1, B3, and B6 are more stable channel bars in terms of changing length, area, width, and perimeters out of ten bars over the studied period. Variability in channel gradient in the upper sub-reaches, changing patterns of fluvio-hydrological configurations, land use, presence of vegetation, rainfall intensity, occurrences of floods, etc. are major factors of bar dynamics and stability over time.