The influence of neo-tectonics on river patterns in Bangladesh; a preliminary study based on Landsat MSS imagery

Abstract

Bangladesh is part of the active foredeep depression south of the Himalayan collision zone, bordering the Indian plate. Seismic activity is common both in the mountain chain and in the Ganga plain reaching into the basin of the Bay of Bengal and forming the counterpart of the uplifted Himalayan chain. Erosion, sedimentation, river migration and transport within the Jamuna (Brahmaputra) river system are therefore not only controlled by processes on the Earth's surface, but are also the result of a balance between fast and continuing deposition versus geological subsidence and uplift. An attempt is made to correlate the behaviour of the Jamuna river to neo-tectonic movements, as interpreted from Landsat MSS imagery using available literature. From the imagery covering the period 1916 to 1987, supervised and unsupervised classifications of bands 5 and 7 were made. The 1978 and 1986 images revealed the most useful classifications and yielded pronounced differences in colour variation for visual interpretations of geological lineaments and terrain units. The Jamuna riverbed can be divided into compartments, limited by faults.