Book contents
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
10 - Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
from Part II - Regional Studies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 30 April 2023
Book contents
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Contributors
- Foreword
- Part I Introduction
- Part II Regional Studies
- 3 Megafans of Africa
- 4 Megafans of the Northern Kalahari Basin (Angola, Botswana, Namibia, Zambia)
- 5 The Chaco Megafans, South America
- 6 Megafans of the Pantanal Basin, Brazil
- 7 Geomorphic and Chronological Assessment of Aggradation Patterns on the Río Grande (Guapay) Megafan, Eastern Bolivia
- 8 Megafans of Southern and Central Europe
- 9 The Loire Megafan, Central France
- 10 Megafans of the Gangetic Plains, India
- 11 The Kosi Megafan, India
- 12 The Holocene Mitchell Megafan, Gulf of Carpentaria, Australia
- 13 Megafans of the Northern Victorian Riverine Plains, SE Australia
- Part III Applications in Other Sciences
- Part IV Megafans in World Landscapes
- Index
- References
Summary
The Eastern Gangetic Plains (EGP) hosts three actively aggradational megafans, the Teesta, Kosi, and Gandak, which are directly fed by rivers draining the Himalayan Mountains in the north; and a fourth, the Sone, which is fed from the Indian shield in the south. Topography in the Western Gangetic Plains (WGP) consists instead of a 900-km-long and 100-km-wide raised interfluve between the incised valleys of the Yamuna and Ganga rivers. None of the commonly-advocated megafan criteria, such as mappable fluvial sediment entities with an apex, distributary drainage, convex-up transverse topographic profiles, or a distinct fan boundary with a break in slope, seem to apply. There are thus no active megafans in the WGP. While not ruling out the possible occurrence of relict megafans, evidence suggests that the WGP landscape is essentially a coalescing floodplain in a valley–interfluve setting. Contrasts between the EGP and WGP are controlled by (i) differential late Quaternary and Holocene basin subsidence, which governs regional-scale variations in accommodation space; (ii) along-strike tectonic and climatic variability, primarily reflected in differential uplift rates, rainfall gradients, mountain-front tectonics, and river exit-point spacing; and (iii) hydrological characteristics of the feeder channel manifested as variability in stream power and sediment flux.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Fluvial Megafans on Earth and Mars , pp. 184 - 201Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2023
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