Drainage System and Watershed

Evolution of the Himalayan Rivers

1. The Indo-Brahm or Shiwalik River Theory
Some of the unwarranted features of the Himalayan rivers such as the longitudinal courses of the
Indus, the Satluj and the Brahmaputra; deep gorges cut by the rivers across the Himalaya; and still
westerly flowing tributaries in their upper reaches are a great puzzle and require proper
explanation. This has been partly done by assuming a mighty river which flowed from Assam to
Punjab and even beyond upto Sind. This hypothetical ancient river was called the Indo-Brahm by
E.H. Pascoe who thought that the present day Indus and Brahmaputra were the severed parts of
the original river. However, it was named as the Shiwalik River by E.G. Pilgrim who considered that
the course of the primitive river is occupied by the present day Shiwalik hills. Pascoe and Pilgrim
presented an elaborate and comprehensive hypothesis, independently in 1919, on the assumption
that the Shiwalik deposition occurred along this great river. The river came into being due to earth
movements which took place in Tertiary period and is believed to be successor of the Himalayan
sea. In the Eocene Epoch a gulf extended from Sind to Afghanistan and from there extended
eastward and south-eastward through Kohat and Punjab to the neighbourhood of Nainital. This
gulf gave place to a great river. With its headwater consisting of portions of the Brahmaputra, this
master stream flowed along the foot of the Himalayas first westward and then north-westward as
far as north-western Punjab where it turned southward more or less along the course of the
modern Indus, and emptied itself into the Arabian Sea. Later, this mighty stream got dismembered
into the following systems and sub-systems :
(a) the Indus,
(b) the five tributaries of the Indus in Punjab,

(c) the Ganga and its Himalayan tributaries, and

(d) the stretch of the Brahmaputra in Assam and its Himalayan tributaries.
The dismemberment was the result of the following two events :
i. Upheavals in the western Himalayas including the Potwar Plateau in the Pleistocene age
and
ii. Headward erosion by the tributaries of the Indobrahma river.
As a result of the above mentioned dismemberment of the Indobrahma river, the Indus and its
tributaries, the Ganga and its tributaries and the Brahmaputra and its tributaries came into being.
It is supposed that the Yamuna was first a tributary of the Indus. During the late Pleistocene and
early Holocene ages, it joined with the Sarswati somewhere near Suratgarh and continued to flow
as Ghaggar, finally joining the Indus. Some other scholars believe that it reached upto Rann of
Kachchh as an independent river. Later on, it changed its course due to tectonic disturbance along
the Aravali axis and was annexed by the Ganga to become its tributary.

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Pascoe also envisaged a great ‘Tibetan River’ flowing north-westwards along the Tsangpo—
Manasarovar Lakes —Satluj—Gartang —Indus trough. This river might have emptied itself into the
Oxus Lake, or might have debouched on to the plains by one of a number of transverse gaps such
as Photu Pass. This river also was disrupted by headward erosion by Ayeyarwadi—Chindwin, the
Meghna— Brahmaputra, the Satluj and the Indus. According to de Terra, the rivers of Karakoram
and Ladakh might have flowed south-eastward or eastward. Its capture in the east might have been
executed by Dihang, a tributary of the Brahmaputra.
However, this theory has been challenged on the following grounds:
1. It is not necessary to imagine a stream of the size of Indobrahma flowing all along the length
of the Himalayas to explain the occurrence of the Shiwalik deposits. These could be brought
down by the rivers flowing down the slopes of the Himalayas. M.S. Krishnan and N.K.N.
Iyngar (1940) found it difficult to accept the existence of such a mighty river on geological
as well as physiographical grounds.
2. The evidences furnished by the depositional history in the Ganga delta and in Assam does
not fit well with the concept of Indobrahma stream.
3. The width, thickness and lithology of the Tipam sand stones of Assam which were
deposited in an estuary situated so close to the source of the Indobrahma also speak
against this theory.
4. The upper course and the source of the Satluj river also do not fit in this theory. It is fed by
underground water from the Manasarovar lake and it flows in a deep canyon cut in the soft
fluviated beds of Nari Khorsum. The upper course of the Satluj is distinctly arid and the
river appears to be a misfit. This could be explained if it were an old outlet of the ‘Tibetan
River'. Pascoe argues that the Satluj captured a part of the ‘ Tibetan River' and then lost
again to the rejuvenated Tsangpo after the Dihang had cut back into the furrow. This
argument has been rejected by many scholars.

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E. Ahmad (1965 and 1971) has given his own interpretation of evolution of the Himalayan drainage.
He believed that the Tethys remained as a basin of sedimentation from the Cambrian to the Eocene
period but the major portion of the Himalayan region was occupied by the Gondwana landmass.
During the first Himalayan upheaval in Oligocene period, part of the Tethyian geosyncline and
probably the Gondwana shield covering the major part of the Himalayan region was uplifted. Most
probably, this marks the initiation of the Himalayan drainage. The Tethys was raised into a
landmass with a median mass of high Tibetan plateau in the centre and two bordering ranges
namely the Kun Lun in the north and the Himadri in the south. The drainage started from the
southern edge of the median mass and flowed south towards the foredeep. As the formation of
east-west ranges created east-west valleys, the rivers partly flowed along these valleys. This is
indicated by the upper course of several rivers such as the Indus, the Sutluj, the Brahmaputra, the
Shyok, the Arun, etc. Since the whole of the Tethys was not fully raised to become land surface,
there existed patches of sea along the margins and the drainage lines were not fully defined.
The second Himalayan upheaval during the mid- Miocene period increased the altitude of the
medium mass and the bordering ranges. The remnant sea was also raised to form landmass. The
rise in land resulted in greater and more invigorated drainage. Along with these changes, the region
to the south of the first Himalayan range was raised as Lesser Himalayan range. Earlier streams on
the southern margin of the Tibetan plateau cut down deep valleys to maintain their courses. Along
the southern slopes of the lesser Himalayas, a number of consequent streams also emerged which
drained into the southern foredeep.
The third Himalayan upheaval during the Pleistocene period resulted in the folding of the Shiwalik
foredeep into hill ranges. Also the height of earlier ranges and the Tibetan plateau was raised. The
rise in the Tibetan plateau blocked the streams that had gone northward into the Tibetan sea. These
streams were diverted east or west which probably led to the formation of the trans-Himalayan
master stream. This master stream was broken into two (the proto-Indus and the proto-
Brahmaputra) by the formation of the Kailas Range. The uplift of the Shiwalik range gave rise to the
last set of consequents originating on the crest of the range emptying into older streams.

2. Multiple River Theory

An alternative explanation regarding the evolution of the Himalayan drainage has been offered by
the Multiple River Theory. The protagonists of this theory find it difficult to accept the existence of
a large river like the Indo-Brahm or Shiwalik on geological and physiographical grounds.
This theory postulates that the Eocene sea extended upto Sind, Rajasthan and from Punjab to
Jammu and thereafter Lansdowne and Nainital. This was connected to Tethys. Existence of such a
sea is evidenced by the presence of shallow water bodies indicative of coast near Landsdowne. This
limit also coincides with the eastern continuation of one of the ridges of the Aravali Range which
presumably acted as barrier. At the same time, another ridge extended from the Rajmahal Hills to
the Meghalaya or Shillong plateau (Rajmahal —Garo gap) which is now occupied by the Ganga-
Brahmaputra basin. The sea was broken by the first upheaval of the Himalayas to form an isolated
basin in which sediments were deposited. In the next upheaval, a pronounced foredeep all along
the southern border of the Himalayas was formed. This foredeep contained numerous lagoons in
which flowed streams from the Peninsula and the newly uplifted Himalayas. These streams brought
sediments which later came to be known as Shiwalik deposits. The outlet of this foredeep was

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 through the Rajmahal-Garo gap in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea in the west. Later on the
lagoons got dried up and numerous transverse streams flowing from the Himalayan region formed
what is now known as the Himalayan drainage.

Evolution of the Peninsular Drainage

Geologists believe that the Sahyadri-Aravali axis was the main water divide in the geological past.
One hypothesis assumes that the existing peninsula is the remaining half of bigger landmass. The
Western Ghats were located in the middle of this landmass dividing the entire drainage into two
symmetrical parts—one flowing in the east and the other flowing in the west. But the western part
of the Peninsula cracked and submerged in the Arabian Sea and disturbed the symmetrical plan of
the rivers on either side of the watershed during the early Tertiary period. During the collision of
the Indian plate, a second major distortion was introduced in the Peninsular block and it was
subjected to subsidence and consequent trough faulting through which now flow main west flowing
rivers of the Peninsula, namely the Narmada and the Tapi. This is amply proved by the straight
coastline, steep western slope of the Western Ghats, and the absence of delta formations on the
western coast.
Another view is put forward keeping in view the exceptional behaviour of the Narmada and the
Tapi. It is believed that these two rivers do not flow in the valleys formed by the rivers themselves.
Rather they have occupied two fault planes or alluvium filled rifts in rocks running parallel to the
Vindhyas. These faults are supposed to be caused by bend or ‘sagging’ of the northern part of the
Peninsula at the time of upheaval of the Himalayas. According to D.N. Wadia (1975) the Peninsular
block, south of the cracks, tilted slightly eastwards thus giving new orientation to the entire
drainage towards the Bay of Bengal. While this line of thought explains the present drainage system
of the Peninsular India with greater satisfaction, it still leaves some questions to which there is no
satisfactory answer. R.C. Mehdiratta (1962) argues that tilting should have increased the gradient
of the river valleys and caused some rejuvenation of the rivers. This type of phenomenon is absent
in the Peninsula, barring a few exceptions such as waterfalls, as mentioned earlier.

Difference between Himalayan Rivers and Peninsular Rivers

Some of the major difference between Himalayan rivers and peninsular rivers are as follows:

1. Basin or catchment area of Himalayan Rivers is extensive and spread over thousands of kilometres. The
catchment area of Indus river 115 lakh sq. kms and catchment area of Ganges 9 lakh sq. kms, whereas
the catchment area of peninsular rivers is comparatively lesser.
2. Himalayan rivers do not cut the high Himalayas to make rivers. These rivers are older than the Himalayas
itself and have been constantly flowing in all stages of formation of Himalayas. The Himalayas have been
rising gradually and these rivers have kept their flow perennial by the eroding base layer. Due to this,
the mountains stood like walls on both the sides. Peninsular rivers on the other hand, flow in wide,
shallow valleys of balanced slope, which shows that these rivers are older than the Himalayan Rivers and
have come into existence after the formation of the peninsular plateau. Hence, now they are in adult
stage.

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 3. Himalayan rivers pass through huge depressions which have been formed through soil erosion along
with the rising of the Himalayas, for lakhs and crores of years. These rivers are still eroding soil at a very
fast rate but the eroding capacity of peninsular rivers has almost weakened.
4. Water is there in Himalayan Rivers throughout the year. They are perennial because the source of water
for these rivers is the rain as well as mountains. But the source of water for peninsular rivers is only rain
hence they do not flow for the whole year. Even big peninsular rivers which cause floods during rains,
dry up during winters.
5. Himalayan rivers meander in plain areas and change their routes also sometimes, but peninsular rivers
cannot meander because of hard rock plateaus at the base and shortage of alluvium.
6. Himalayan rivers are more useful for navigation. Rivers in plateau on the other hand, flow fast during
the rains due to steep slope but dry out during winters. Moreover, there are many waterfalls enroute
hence they are not suitable for transpor-tation. Himalayan rivers are well-suited for irrigation.
7. Most of the peninsular rivers flow towards the east (Narmada and Tapti), whereas most of the Himalayan
rivers flow towards the west.

Regimes of Himalayan and Peninsular rivers

River regime is the seasonal fluctuation in the volume of water in a river. The climatic differences in the sources
of the Himalayan and the Peninsular rivers lead to the differences in the drainage patterns of these two areas.

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The Himalayan rivers are perennial because their regimes depend upon water supply both from rainfall and
snow-melt. Thus, the regimes of the Himalayan rivers are both monsoonal as well as glacial. On the other hand,
the Peninsular rivers receive water from rainfall only and their regimes are only monsoonal.

Fig. 4.5 shows hydrographs of two Himalayan and two Peninsular rivers depicting their regimes. These graphs
show the monthly discharge of water flowing in these rivers. This discharge is measured in cusecs (cubic feet per
second) or cumecs (cubic metres per second).

The Ganga has minimum flow from January to June. The maximum is attained in August or September. The rate
of flow steadily falls after September. The Ganga has, thus, a typical monsoonal regime. However, there is
enough water in this river before the monsoon rains mainly because of snow- melt in the Himalayas. Another
Himalayan river, the Jhelum attains its maximum flow in June or even in May mainly because of Himalayan snow-
melt. An interesting difference between the regimes of the two rivers is seen in the range of variation between
the maximum and the minimum flow. This difference is sharper in the case of the Ganga than the Jhelum. The
mean maximum discharge of the Ganga at Farakka is about 45,000 cusecs, while the mean minimum is only
1,300 cusecs. The Jhelum, however, has a less voluminous discharge, the respective mean maximum flow being
600 cusecs and the mean minimum 50 cusecs.

The two Peninsular rivers display interesting differences from the Himalayan rivers in their regimes. The Narmada
has a very low volume of discharge from January to July which suddenly rises in August when the maximum is
attained. The river, however, maintains its fall as spectacular as the rise in August. The Godavari flows at a low
level until May. It has a double maxima—one in May-June and other in July-August. After August, there is a sharp
fall in discharge, although the volume of flow in October and November is higher than in any of the months from
January to May. The mean maximum discharge of the Godavari at Polauaram is 3,200 cusecs, while the mean
minimum flow is only 50 cusecs. The respective values for the Narmada, as recorded at Garudeshwar, are 2,300
cusecs and 15 cusecs.

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Impact of human induced global warming and land-use changes
on the regime of Indian Rivers

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