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Impact of potential flood on riverbanks in extreme hydro-climatic events, NW Himalaya

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Abstract

Floods are becoming more frequent in Himalaya, particularly in the NW Himalaya, and have been related to the increasing impact of changing climate. Uttarakhand in the NW Himalaya has witnessed 2 major flood events in the last decade that killed more than 6000 people. This study is an attempt to explore the impact of potential flood on a riverbank slope in Uttarakhand, NW Himalaya. The response of this riverbank slope during extreme rainfall is also explored in terms of stability and debris flow runout. Therefore, we evaluated the riverbank slope stability and the runout extent of its material to understand the slope response during extreme rainfall. Flood simulation was also performed to determine the potential flood impact on the riverbank slope. Results revealed that the slope material at the exposed fluvial sequence and slope toe might displace forward ~0.12–0.4 m. The potential debris flow from the slope may impact the retaining wall supporting the slope with a pressure up to 150 k Pa. The potential flood may strike the riverbank with a velocity and stream power of 10 ± 2 m/s and 0.2 ± 0.1 M N/m-s, respectively, which is about three times higher than the approximated resistance of the retaining wall.

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Though the majority of the dataset has been presented as supplementary, additional dataset may be provided on request.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful for the financial support by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi [Ref. No. DST/CCP/MRDP/187/2019(G)]. We also acknowledge constructive comments/suggestions of editor-in-chief (Prof. Louis N.Y. Wong), editor (Prof. Jia-Wen Zhou), and three anonymous reviewers.

Funding

Authors are thankful for the financial support by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi [Ref. No. DST/CCP/MRDP/187/2019(G)].

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University, Srinagar, India

    Yaspal Sundriyal, Firoz Khan, Sameeksha Kaushik, Neha Chauhan & Dhirendra Singh Bagri

  2. Department of Geology, Doon University, Dehradun, India

    Vipin Kumar

  3. National Geotechnical Facility, Dehradun, India

    Mohit Kumar Puniya

  4. Department of Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi, India

    Naresh Rana

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  1. Yaspal Sundriyal
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  5. Sameeksha Kaushik
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Contributions

YS, VK, DSB, and NR conceived the idea. VK, SK, and NC performed the field work and collected soil samples. VK, SK, NC, NR, and FK performed UAV mapping. VK and YP processed the UAV imagery. MKP performed the laboratory analysis. VK performed the numerical simulations. All authors contributed to the writing of the final draft.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Vipin Kumar.

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Supplementary Information

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Supplementary Fig. 1

Regional geological setting (JPG 2096 KB)

Supplementary Fig. 2

Field picture of the study area highlighting fluvial sequence exposure (JPG 6969 KB)

Supplementary Fig. 3

Flood simulation area comprising meanders and surface irregularity (natural as well as anthropogenic) in fluvial channel (JPG 5495 KB)

Supplementary Fig. 4

Slope stability analysis under static condition (JPG 595 KB)

Supplementary Fig. 5

Sensitivity analysis of input parametres of slope stability simulation.TD refers to total displacement (JPG 573 KB)

Supplementary Table 1

Input data for slope stability analysis (DOCX 27 KB)

Supplementary Table 2

Input data for Debris flow analysis (DOCX 15 KB)

Supplementary Table 3

Input data for Flood simulation (DOCX 15 KB)

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Sundriyal, Y., Kumar, V., Khan, F. et al. Impact of potential flood on riverbanks in extreme hydro-climatic events, NW Himalaya. Bull Eng Geol Environ 82, 196 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10064-023-03205-4

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