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The Dynamic Ganga

2018; Springer International Publishing; Linguagem: Inglês

10.1007/978-3-319-76544-0_4

2366-8865

Kalyan Rudra,

The Ganga flows through Bengal for about 457 km between the Rajmahal hills and the Bay of Bengal. It receives the Jamuna and Meghna as left bank tributaries while flowing through Bangladesh and throws off the Bhagirathi, the Bhairab–Jalangi, the Mathabhanga–Churni, the Garai and the Tentulia as right bank distributaries. The left bank distributaries like the Kalindri, the Chhoto Bhagirathi, the Pagla and the Boral have gone dry. The Ganga continuously changes its course through avulsion and meander migration. It erodes fertile land and displaces many villages every year. The emergence and shifting of the capital towns of Bengal happened also due to changing courses of the Ganga and its distributaries. The Holocene tilt of the delta governed the eastward flow of the Ganga, and consequently many distributaries have decayed. The erosion of the bank, especially in Malda district of West Bengal, has been accelerated after the commissioning of the Farakka barrage.