Brahmaputra River, Assam, India: Physiography, Basin Denudation, and Channel Aggradation

Abstract

The Brahmaputra River in Assam, India, characterized by high seasonal variability in flow, sediment transport, and channel configuration, experienced a secular period of aggradation from 1971 to 1979. The suspended load budget indicates an overall aggradation of the 607‐km Assam reach of the Brahmaputra by about 16 cm during that period, with about 70% of the suspended sediment inflow into the reach being retained in the channel. Expressed as a percentage of the change in storage for the different reaches, computed errors due to sampling variability in sediment discharge generally lie within about 5–15% and do not appear to be large enough to affect the conclusions drawn from the suspended load budget. For a 145‐km reach of the Brahmaputra, an alternative method based on measurement of channel cross sections suggests 21 cm of aggradation, somewhat more than estimated by the suspended load budget. Based on the suspended load carried by trans‐Himalayan rivers, the present rate of denudation of the eastern Himalayas is estimated to be 73–157 cm/10 3 years. The average rate for the last 2–3 million years, estimated from the volume of alluvial fill in the Brahmaputra valley in Assam, the sediment yield of the Himalayan rivers, and assuming a total yield to deposition ratio of 1.4 (present study), is 3 cm/10 3 years. The current high rate of denudation of the Himalayas may be attributed mainly to the rapid uplift of the mountain system, recent earthquake activity, and high susceptibility of geologic formations to erosion by running water coupled with the effectiveness of the monsoon rainfall regime.