ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering

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Morphological study of Upper Tapi river using

remote sensing and GIS techniques

S. R. Resmi, P. L. Patel & P. V. Timbadiya

To cite this article: S. R. Resmi, P. L. Patel & P. V. Timbadiya (2018): Morphological study of
Upper Tapi river using remote sensing and GIS techniques, ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering,
DOI: 10.1080/09715010.2017.1409089

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/09715010.2017.1409089

Published online: 12 Jan 2018.

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 ISH Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, 2018
https://doi.org/10.1080/09715010.2017.1409089

Morphological study of Upper Tapi river using remote sensing and GIS techniques
S. R. Resmi, P. L. Patel and P. V. Timbadiya
Civil Engineering Department, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, India

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Present study is an effort to quantify the bank erosion and bankline migration in the Upper Tapi River, Received 25 March 2017
India. The migration of banklines have been quantified during period 1977–2010 using satellite imagery, Accepted 20 November 2017
SOI topo-sheets and GIS tools at every 20 km chainages of the river. The bank erosion/deposition areas
KEYWORDS
(km2) are also computed by dividing the river in 50 km stretches. The study indicated that, significant Bank erosion; bankline
bank migration has occurred between CH: 300 km and CH: 350 km. Field investigations suggest that migration; flood frequency
this phenomenon is due to the infilling of Hatnur Reservoir and its post-reservoir sedimentation. The relationship; hydraulic
right bank line has been observed to be more erosion prone than left bank line of the river due to geometry equations; width-
presence of relatively soft geological formation in the right bank. The developed hydraulic geometry depth ratio
equations clearly indicate that flow depth increases rapidly with increase in discharge without a
Downloaded by [University of New England] at 21:37 14 January 2018

significant increase in width at Dedtalai stream gauging station. The analysis of the geomorphic effect
of extreme flood events of the years 1994, 1998 and 2006 showed that the unit stream power, for same
order of discharge of year 1994, at Dedtalai stream gauging station is higher than Burhanpur stream
gauging station. Apart from the magnitude of unit stream power, the duration of flood event has been
found to be significant parameter in geomorphic effectiveness of the flood events. The critical erosion/
shifting prone locations are also supported with field visits undertaken in the study reach.

1. Introduction
The rivers are invariably posed to severe threats due to exces-
sive erosion and deposition owing to the lateral migration
of their either banks. The river tries to adjust its course to
account for the lateral and vertical instability along its course
(Rinaldi 2003). One of the major causes of such instability
is the imbalance between sediment carrying capacity of the
river and inflow of sediment, into the river (Garde and Raju
2000). While the rivers try to attain their equilibrium states,
the external forces such as river regulations and enhanced
land-use pressures degrade their flood plains (Hazarika et al.
2015). River bank erosion is an endemic and recurrent natural
hazard, whose prolonged effects can cause serious damages to
flood-plain dwellers, agricultural lands along the flood-plain,
riparian vegetation, natural habitats, engineering structures
like dams, bridges and embankments and grave consequences
on the ground water table (Debnath et al. 2017). Identification
of vulnerable locations/reaches along the river course in plan
is extremely important to document the erosion hazard and to
implement relevant management and stabilization measures.
Leading studies undertaken in the past to identify the spa-
tio-temporal pattern of the river planform and their bankline
migration, with the aid of GIS and Remote Sensing tools, which
will be useful to the reader for future reference are Das et al.
(2012), Sarkar et al. (2012), Thakur et al. (2012), Florsheim et
al. (2008), Heo et al. (2009) and Yang et al. (1981).
The lateral migration of river is affected by a number of
factors like basin topography, pattern of land-use and land-
cover, geology of the basin, recurring flood events and climatic
variables like rainfall and temperature. The rivers that fall in
tropical and humid areas are dominantly affected by floods that
recur frequently, producing extremely high stream power in
dissipating their enormous energy. Such events are capable of
producing a variety of changes in the form of erosion of bed
and river banks, movement of coarse sediments like cobbles
and boulders (Baker and Kale 1998; Gupta 1995; Kale and Hire
2004; Wohl 1992). The hydrodynamic forces associated with
such flood events are geomorphically effective, if a river and
its flood-plain experience prolonged effects (Kale 2007). The
geomorphic effectiveness of floods, on channel geometry at
particular cross-section can be assessed using hydraulic geom-
etry equations developed by Leopold and Maddock (1953).
The term hydraulic geometry of channel relates the mean river
channel form with discharge, both at a cross-section and down-
stream along the river network in a hydrologically homoge-
nous basin (Singh 2003). The extreme events (floods) having
severe influence on the planform of the river, can be assessed
by quantifying the planimetric changes in the form of bankline
migration of the river (Brandt 2000; Hickin and Sichingabula
1988; Lewin and Brewer 2001).
The unit discharge values in Tapi river ranges between 0.5
and 3.14 cm/km2, which is an indication of dominant control
of flood events on morphology of the river (Kale et al. 1994).
The Upper Tapi river sub-basin, specifically, receives an annual
average rainfall of 833 mm, which are capable of producing
catastrophic floods in the river. The historical records indicate
that Tapi river has experienced heavy floods in the years, 1727,
1776, 1782, 1829, 1837, 1872, 1944, 1959, 1968, 1970, 1994,
1998 and 2006 (Timbadiya et al. 2014). Keeping in view of the
availability of topographical, satellite and hydrological data,
it is planned to assess the influence of extreme flood events,

CONTACT P. V. Timbadiya pvtimbadiya@ced.svnit.ac.in

© 2018 Indian Society for Hydraulics
 2  S. R. RESMI ET AL.
particularly, the events of years 1994, 1998 and 2006 on mor-
phological behavior of the Upper Tapi River. Keeping in view
the importance of morphological studies of rivers in their plan
forms (shifting/migration of banklines) and geomorphic effec-
tiveness of extreme events on the phenomenon, present study
has been planned to fulfill following objectives:
(1) Quantification of the shifting of banklines of the
Upper Tapi River including areas of erosion and dep-
osition along the river reach.
(2) Assessment of the effects of extreme events, in terms
of their unit stream powers for possible variations in
observed cross-sections at stream gauging stations.
(3) Correlating the morphological changes in plan forms
and cross-sections with geological and hydraulic
conditions including the effect of hydraulic struc-
tures on the Upper Tapi River.
2. Study area and data used
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The study area covered in the present study includes the
Upper Tapi sub-basin, with its outlet at Hatnur Reservoir,
Maharashtra, India. The sub-basin is located between 21° 00′
00″ N to 22° 00′ 00″ N latitudes and 75° 45′ 00″ E to 78° 30′ 00″
E longitudes as shown in Figure 1. The sub-basin has an area of
catchment 10,193 km2 (excluding Purna sub-basin) with alti-
tude varying from 752 m near Multai (inception of Tapi river)
to about 207 m near Hatnur reservoir (outlet of the catchment).
Figure 1. Index map of the Upper Tapi Sub-basin. Source: The authors.
The sub-basin is bounded by hill ranges on two sides, i.e.,
Satpura ranges and Mahadeo Hills, on north and south sides
respectively, while, west side is bounded by Khandesh Plains
(CWPC 1952). The basin experiences sub-tropical to temperate
climatic conditions, and receives heaviest rainfall during June-
September. The Tapi river basin is predominantly occupied by
impermeable Deccan Basalt of Mezoic Era and permeable qua-
ternary alluvial deposits (Central Water Commission 2014).
The spatial geological information of the Upper Tapi River
was assessed using geological maps collected from Geological
Survey of India (GSI), Nagpur, while extracting a buffer of
10 km on both banks of the river, see Figure 2. The Upper
Tapi River stretches to a length of around 350 km from its
source to Hatnur Reservoir. During its passage, the river cov-
ers a variety of topography, such as gullied ravenous terrains,
hilly areas and alluvial plains. Most of the areas of the Upper
Tapi River, lie within Maharashtra (Amravati District), is full
of cuts and valleys, whereas in Madhya Pradesh (Betul and
Burhanpur Districts), the basin is covered with Deccan trap
lava flows. The buffer zone, constituting the Upper Tapi River,
between Multai and Hatnur Dam, is mainly occupied by basal-
tic lava in the initial portions, followed by alluvial deposits,
as the river enters comparatively flatter reaches after Dedtalai
stream gauging station. Also, rock formations like granite,
quartz-mica and sandstone are present in very minor quanti-
ties, in the north-eastern part of the buffer zone, which forms
part of the Satpura mountain ranges that separates Tapi Basin
from Narmada Basin. There are two stream gauging stations
 ISH JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING  3
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Figure 2. Geological map of the Upper Tapi River along the buffer zone from Multai to Hatnur dam. Source: The authors.

along the Upper Tapi River for measurement of discharges in shifting of banklines during years 1977–2010. The shifting of
main river during the monsoon, see Figure 1. banklines were quantified along the river at every 20 km chain-
The topographical, satellite imagery, hydrological and ages. Also, the areas of erosion and deposition were quantified
hydraulic data and cross-sectional data were collected/pro- in the stretch of 50 km. The methodology adopted for aforesaid
cured from respective agencies for fulfilling the stated objec- analysis is illustrated through a flowchart, see Figure 3.
tives. The brief description of data including its relevant sources The SOI toposheets were scanned at resolution 600 dots
are included in Table 1. per inch (dpi) to allow for an enlarged view of the study reach.
At a scale of 1: 50,000, the positional accuracy of Open Series
Maps (OSM.s) generated by Survey of India is 21.9 m (Ghosh
3. Methodology
and Dubey 2008). In present study, the width of the river was
The banklines of the Upper Tapi River, existing on SOI found to be more than 21.9 m at all locations in the study reach.
toposheets, were digitized using ArcGIS 10.4©. The digitized Hence, the toposheets of scale 1:50,000 could be effectively
banklines on SOI toposheets were overlaid on the banklines used to identify and delineate the river bank lines.
existing on satellite imagery of year 2010 to compute the In present study, the river chainage has been taken with
respect to the flow direction with zero at the beginning point of
the river, i.e., at Tapi Talab in Betul District of Madhya Pradesh.
Table 1. Details of toposheets and satellite imagery used in the present study. For sign convention, any shift in the northward direction with
Data used Details of the respect to the base SOI toposheets bankline, is designated with
product Description Source positive signs and those in the southward are designated with
Topographical Data Scale: 1:50,000 Survey of India negative signs. Similarly, for left bank, the offsets in the south-
Toposheets Survey Year: 1977–1979 ward direction are assigned with positive signs and those in the
Satellite Imagery Year: 2010; Product: IRS NRSC#, Hyderabad
P6 LISS-III; Resolution: northward are assigned with negative signs. This implies that,
23.5 m for both right bank and left bank, positive sign indicates ero-
Date of passing: sion and negative sign indicates deposition, see Figure 4. The
16/03/2010 and
21/03/2010 hydraulic geometry equations were developed for the stream
Path/Row: 97/57, 97/58 gauging stations, Dedtalai and Burhanpur in the following
and 98/57, 98/58 form (Leopold and Maddock 1953).
Hydrological and hydraulic Dedtalai Discharge time CWC
data series: 1978–2004
Burhanpur Discharge
W = aQb (1)
time series: 1978–2011
Pre-monsoon and
post-monsoon
cross-section of Ded-
D = cQf (2)
talai and Burhanpur
stream gauging station
#: NRSC: National Remote Sensing Centre. U = kQm (3)
 4  S. R. RESMI ET AL.

Data Input

Satellite SOI Toposheets

Imagery (SI) for (Base year:
the year 2010 1977-1979)

Orthorectification and Georeferencing of

radiometric correction of toposheets in WGS-1984
the SI (WGS-1984 Datum) Datum

Projecting the toposheets

and SI on Lambert
Conformal Conic (LCC)
Projection system
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Digitizing the banklines of the Upper Tapi River in toposheets and SI

using ArcGIS 10.4

Overlaying the banklines of SI over the banklines of toposheets

Computation of the areas of erosion and deposition for every 50 km

reach, and the migration of banklines at every 20 km chainage during
base year-2010

Development of hydraulic geometry equations for peak flows at Dedtalai

and Burhanpur stream gauging stations

Evaluation of the geomorphic effect of floods of the years 1994, 1998

and 2006 on the channel migration pattern and the erosion areas of the
Upper Tapi River by integrating the hydraulic geometry equations with
the at-site flood frequency model developed for the Upper Tapi Basin

Figure 3. Methodology adopted in the present study. Source: The authors.

Here, W is the top flow width in m, D is the flow depth in
m, U is the mean flow velocity in m/s and Q is the discharge
in m3/s. The parameters a, c and k are the hydraulic geom-
etry coefficients and b, f and m are the hydraulic geometry
exponents. For compatibility of Equations (1)–(3), ack = 1
and b + f + m = 1. The hydraulic geometry equations devel-
oped were used to analyse the cross-sectional characteristics
at stream gauging stations.
The at-site flood frequency analysis carried out at Dedtalai
and Burhanpur stream gauging stations using Gumbel’s
Distribution (Generalized Extreme Value-I distribution) being
suitable for Indian rivers (Garde and Kothyari 1990). The flows
at the aforesaid stations are classified into four classes based on
their magnitudes and corresponding return periods. The flows
were classified into low flows (Return period: 1.01–1.2 years),
medium flows (Return period: 1.2–2.33 years), floods
(Return period: 2.33–6.93 years) and high floods (Return
period >6.93 years and equal to or less than the maximum
observed flow at the station for the period of consideration),
to understand the geomorphic effectiveness of the aforesaid
flooding conditions during 1977–2010.
The stream power also play a very important role in geo-
morphic effectiveness of flows (Baker and Costa 1987). The
unit stream power corresponding to various categories of flow
have been calculated using Equation (4).
𝛾QS
𝜔= (4)
W
Here, ω is the unit stream power in W/m2; γ is the specific
weight of clear water (9800 N/m3); Q is the discharge in
m3/s; S is the water surface slope and W is the top flow
width (m).
 ISH JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING  5

CH:150 km

CH: 200 km
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Figure 4. Critical erosion prone segments of Upper Tapi river in the year 2010. Source: The authors.

Table 2. Shifting of right bank and left bank at 20 km chainages during 1977– Table 3. Total erosion and deposition areas in the banks of the Upper Tapi River
2010. during 1977–2010.

Bankline shift (km) Erosion and deposition areas in km2 (Base

year-2010)
+ve: erosion, –ve: deposition Reaches
Reach No. (km) RB LB
2010
Deposi- Deposi-
Chainages (km) RB LB Erosion tion Erosion tion
0 (Tapi Kund) –0.06 0.05 1 0–50 4.07 1.10 1.24 4.13
20 0.08 –0.09 2 50–100 3.06 1.48 1.99 2.84
40 0.10 0 3 100–150 2.89 0.81 0.45 3.41
60 –0.11 –0.12 4 150–200 4.59 0.1 0.04 5.26
80 –0.16 0.25 5 200–250 3.54 0.23 0.02 6.28
100 0 –0.03 6 250–300 2.88 0.53 0.07 5.53
120 –0.03 0.02 7 300–350 3.91 0.61 0.35 4.86
140 0.11 –0.14 Total 24.94 4.86 4.16 32.31
160 –0.02 –0.09
180 –0.02 –0.01
200 –0.01 –0.09
220 0.01 –0.16 4.1. River migration, erosion quantification and field
240 0.05 –0.13
260 0.02 –0.22 investigation
280 0.09 –0.10
300 0.05 –0.12 The shifting patterns of the right bank and left bank of the river
320 0.06 –0.20 at every 20 km chainages between the time period 1977–2010,
340 –0.06 0.05 have been computed and tabulated in Table 2.
350 (Hatnur Reservoir) 0.33 0
The Right Bank Line (RBL) of the Upper Tapi River,
predominantly shows positive migration towards northern
direction with reference to the base year. The positive shifting
4. Results and discussions
of the right bank is due to the presence of soft and alluvial
The results and discussion of the present study is divided in deposits on the right bank compared to left bank, see Figure
the two parts: viz., (i) river migration erosion quantification 2. The migration at CH: 350 km has been observed to be the
and field investigation; (ii) development of hydraulic geome- maximum near Hatnur Reservoir. Such apparent shifting is
try equations and computation of stream powers for flow of observed due to filling of reservoir in the valley and creation
different classes and the peak floods for the years 1994, 1998 of new bankline after construction of the dam in 1982. At
and 2006. other locations, RBL exhibits minor shifts only except at CH:
 6  S. R. RESMI ET AL.

Najirighat Fort wall

Tapiriver Scouring below the Fort wall

Rajghat

Tapi river

(a) (b)

Considerable deposition on the left Considerable deposition on the left

bank (inner bend of the meander) bank (inner bend of the meander)
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Tapi river
Tapi river

(c) (d)

Minor cutting in the right bank

Tapi river
Tapi river

(e) (f)

Figure 5. (a) Location map of Rajghat (CH: 307.89) and Najirighat (CH: 311.00) in Burhanpur, (b) Damaged portion of Fort wall near Rajghat in Burhanpur, (c)
Considerable deposition on the left bank just upstream of Rajghat in Burhanpur, (d) Considerable deposition on the left bank just upstream of Najirighat in Burhanpur
(e) Stable banks observed near Dedtalai CWC stream gauging site (CH: 236.34 km), (f) Minor cutting observed in the right Dabalikhurd, Nepanagar (CH: 288.50 km).
Source: The authors.

Table 4. Exponents of at-a-station hydraulic geometry.

Table 5. Variation in hydraulic geometry parameters and unit stream power with
Stream Exponents of Equa- Coefficients of Equa- return period.
gaug- tions (1)–(3) tions (1)–(3)
Hydraulic
ing
parame-
station b f m a c k b/f m/f
ters
Dedtalai 0.06 0.63 0.3 170.14 0.03 0.19 0.095 0.48
Burhan- 0.24 0.55 0.21 28.76 0.07 0.51 0.44 0.38 Flood Water
pur Return duration surface
Station Q (m3/s) period (T) (h) slope (S) ω (W/m2)
Dedtalai QL = 1101 1.20 – 4.44 × 10−4 18.33
QM = 4195 2.33 – 4.55 × 10−4 66.65
60 km and CH: 80 km at the inner meander bends formed QF = 7605 6.93 – 6.99 × 10−4 150.75
at Layavani Village in Madhya Pradesh. The Left Bank Line Year 277 60 5.29 × 10−4 299.31
1994 =
(LBL) of the Upper Tapi River, in most of the chainages, shows 17,628
negative shift, i.e., migration to the right side (northern direc- Year 1998 1.26 36 4.30 × 10−4 23.13
tion). The deposition pattern in the left bank is due to the = 1445
Burhanpur QL = 1699 1.20 – 3.33 × 10−4 32.06
bringing of eroded sediments by secondary currents from QM = 7606 2.33 – 3.00 × 10−4 91.04
right bank. QF = 6.93 – 4.99 × 10−4 240.18
The total eroded areas in right bank and left bank, during 14,115
Year 11.90 48 4.40 × 10−4 246.63
the period 1977–2010, are tabulated and presented in Table 3. 1994 =
The erosion prone segments between CH: 150 km and CH: 17,027
200 km are shown in Figure 4. The right bank of the Upper Year 58.00 24 4.06 × 10−4 306.87
1998 =
Tapi River is more prone to erosion vis-à-vis its left bank. The 25,261
situation is reversed for the deposition process, wherein left Year 2006 1.45 24 4.30 × 10−4 77.47
bank had undergone large deposition than its right bank. As = 3825
 ISH JOURNAL OF HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING  7

Dedtalai
300 Dedtalai
300
Elevation (m) above MSL 295 Right bank getting

Elevation (m) above MSL

295
eroded post flood
290
290

285
285

280 280

275 275

270 Pre 1994 270 Pre 1998

Post 1994 Post 1998
265 265
0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400

Distance (m) Distance (m)

(a) (b)

240
Burhanpur Burhanpur
240
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235
Elevation (m) above MSL

Elevation (m) above MSL

235
230
Crosssectionobserved
230
to be almostremaining
225
the same
225
220

220
215
Pre 1994
215 Pre 1998
210 Post 1994
Post 1998
205 210
0 100 200 300 400 500 100 0 200 300 400 500

Distance (m) Distance (m)

(c) (d)

Burhanpur
245
Elevation (m) above MSL

240

235

230

225

220
Pre 2006
215 Post 2006

210
0 100 200 300 400

Distance (m)
(e)

Figure 6. Variation in cross-sectional geometry before and after flood at Dedtalai and Burhanpur stream gauging stations of Upper Tapi river. Source: The authors.

stated earlier, the significant erosion seen in the right bank in The validation of accessible critical erosion prone locations,
the chainage close to Hatnur Reservoir (CH: 350 km), is not identified using SOI toposheets, satellite imagery and other
the loss of land by the river action, but the migration of the locations interrogated with local people, were visited between
river bank owing to filling of Hatnur Reservoir and flooding CH: 0 km (Tapi Kund, Multai) to CH: 350 km (Hatnur Dam)
in the river after construction after the year 1982. The river in the field. The visited locations include, CH: 350 km (Hatnur
reach between CH: 150 km and CH: 200 km, characterized by Dam, Maharashtra), CH: 355.45 km (Changdev Village, con-
the presence of sinuous/meandering river courses (Figure 4), fluence of Purna River and Tapi river, Maharashtra), CH:
river constantly cuts its outer (here, right) bank and results in 311.00 km (Najirighat, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 307.89 km
significant erosion. (Rajghat, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 288.50 km (Dabalikhurd,
 8  S. R. RESMI ET AL.
Nepanagar, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 253.33 km (Melchuka
Village, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 236.34 km (Dedtalai Stream
gauging site, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 228.71 km (Ramakheda
Village, Madhya Pradesh), CH: 12.34 km (Chandora Dam,
Madhya Pradesh) and CH: 0 km (Tapi Kund, Madhya Pradesh).
In conversation with the authorities at Hatnur dam, it was
highlighted that the bed level of Tapi river has undergone a
significant rise, post construction of the Hatnur dam in 1982,
owing to huge reservoir sedimentation. Similar results have
also been reported by Maharashtra Engineering Research
Institute (MERI) during 2007–2008, where 56.76% of the
original capacity of the reservoir is occupied by silt (Annual
Research Report 2007–08). As a result of that the bed level of
Tapi rises and thereby causing the river to migrate to its sides
which eventually results in bank line migration. Apart from
this, critical erosion was observed at CH: 307.89 km, which
falls in Rajghat near Burhanpur in Madhya Pradesh. The river
forms a meander bend here at the outer bend, i.e., the right
bank was observed to be eroded. It was further observed that
soil underneath the walls of the Fort has also eroded signifi-
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cantly, and, in longer run, likely to get damaged, if protection
measures are not enforced. Further, it was also observed that,
at the inner bend, there is significant deposition of sediments
and point bars have been formed.
Typical photographs of key locations, along with respec-
tive morphological issues are included in Figure 5. Apart from
cited observations as above, the Upper Tapi River seems to be
a stable course river due to inherent geological conditions on
both banks.
4.2. Development of hydraulic geometry equations and
computation of stream power
Hydraulic geometry equations (see Equations (1)–(3)) were
developed for the annual maximum peak flows at Dedtalai
and Burhanpur stream gauging stations along the Upper Tapi
River for periods 1978–2004 and 1988–2014 respectively. The
values of hydraulic geometry coefficients (a, c and k) and
hydraulic geometry exponents (b, f and m) are enumerated
in Table 4.
From Table 4, the low value b/f indicate that, with an increase
in discharge, the rate of change of width is less than change
in mean depth and mean velocity at a station. It implies that
increase in discharge is compensated by a significant increase
in mean depth of flow followed by mean velocity. The ratio
between the rate of change of mean velocity and the rate of
change in depth (m/f) has direct effect on the sediment trans-
port capacity of the river (Langbein and Leoplod 1964). The
sediment carrying capacity of Dedtalai stream gauging station
is higher compared to that of Burhanpur owing to the higher
m/f ratio. The lower value of b/f ratio for Dedtalai stream gaug-
ing station indicates that width of the section remains mostly
constant, and increase in discharge is compensated by cor-
responding increase in velocity and depth. Thus, cross sec-
tion at Dedtalai stream gauging station is more resembling to
box-shape vis-à-vis cross section at Burhanpur stream gauging
station. Such cross sections have significant increase in unit
stream power due to increase in discharge.
The magnitudes of low, medium and high flood for both the
stream gauging stations along with magnitudes of major flood
events of years 1994, 1998 and 2006 of respective stations are
included in Table 5. It is seen that flood events of years 1994
and 1998 are classified high flood and low flow respectively.
The flood peak of 2006 has not been considered for Dedtalai
stream gauging station as the hydraulic geometry equations
were developed for a period of 1978–2004. The floods for the
years 1994, 1998 and 2006 are classified as high flood, high
flood and medium flow respectively for Burhanpur stream
gauging station. The unit stream power of both the stream
gauging stations were estimated using Equation (4), for low,
medium, floods, high floods and the observed extreme floods
during the analysis period. From Table 5, it is apparent that the
unit stream power for same order of discharge of year 1994,
for Dedtalai stream gauging station is higher than Burhanpur
stream gauging station.
The geomorphic effectiveness of an extreme event is
dependent on both stream power and duration of the event.
From Table 5, it is seen that large flood event of year 1994 with
large duration, i.e., 60 h had caused significant deformation of
channel cross section at Dedtalai stream gauging station and
little deformation at Burhanpur gauging station (see Figure
6). It is worth noting that, though flood of year 1998 is signif-
icantly higher in magnitude (large unit stream power), could
not cause any impact on channel cross section due to shorter
duration of 24 h.
5. Conclusions
The morphological behaviour of the Upper Tapi River during
1977–2010 has been quantified in terms of plan form changes
and geometric effectiveness of the extreme events. The key
conclusions drawn from foregoing study can be summarized
as follows:
(1) The right bank line of the Upper Tapi River is more
prone to erosion vis-à-vis left bank line of the river.
(2) The significant shifting of Right bank line near
Hatnur reservoir is due to infilling of reservoir after
construction of dam, and, subsequent, creation of
new bank line.
(3) The filed investigations to the study reach requires
immediate attention of dam authority in controlling
silting into reservoir to avoid further inundation of
upper reaches of river valley. Also, the critical ero-
sion near Burhanpur fort need to be strengthened by
concerned authority.
(4) The magnitude of extreme flood events and their
duration are significant parameters in causing geo-
morphic effectiveness in alluvial rivers.
Acknowledgement
The authors are thankful to the Central Water Commission (CWC),
Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga
Rejuvenation, Govt. of India for providing necessary financial support
through project titled “Morphological Study of Tapi River using Remote
Sensing Technique” and data required for the study. The authors also
thankful to Centre of Excellence (CoE) on “Water Resources and Flood
Management”, SVNIT-Surat under TEQIP-II for the resourceful help
and support. The authors are grateful to Editor and two anonymous
reviewers for their suggestions in improving the quality of the present
study.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Funding
This work was supported by the Central Water Commission (CWC).
ORCID
P. V. Timbadiya http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8472-3318
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