Fluvial Geomorphic Analysis of Suru-Zanskar Valley, Ladakh Jammu & Kashmir, India

Abstract

The drainage system of the study region is dominated by the strike valleys of the Stod and Lungnak rivers, each flowing towards each other along the foot of the Himalayan range to meet on the Padum plain and then flowing northwards across the geological grain to meet the Indus river in its own strike valley. The morpho-metric analysis of the study region reveals that the first order streams have the shortest length and the stream length increases with each successive order. The mean stream length ranges between 1.79 of the first order to 132 kms of the fifth order. The slope of the basin appears to be the valid reason for variation in the mean length of different orders of streams. The drainage density of the basin varies from 0.610 to 0.018. The basin as a whole has the drainage density of 0.42. The drainage frequency in the lower to higher order of the basin ranges from 1.42 to 0.340. The geomorphic indices of the profiles indicate that the relative slope ration (SL/K) values ranges from 0.41 to 2.06 in Stod-Zanskar however in the Lungnak valley value vary from 0.75 to 1.11. The study reveals that the Lungnak valley has much steeper section in comparison to the Stod valley as a consequence of tectonic activities.