In Lidder Valley (Kashmir Himalaya)

International Journal of Marine, Atmospheric & Earth Sciences, 2013, 1(2): 47-58 International Journal of Marine, Atmospheric & Earth Sciences ISSN: 2327-3356 Journal homepage:www.ModernScientificPress.com/Journals/IJMaes.aspx Florida, USA Article Drainage Basin Characteristics and Soil Erosion Intensity of Lidder Watershed (Catchment) in Lidder Valley (Kashmir Himalaya)

Sumira Rasool1, Ashok K. Pandit2, Ashwani Wanganeo1, Bhat Mohd Skinder2,*

1Department of Environmental Science and Limnology, Barkatullah University Bhopal, (M.P.), India 2Aquatic Ecology Lab, Centre of Research for Development, University of Kashmir, Srinagar-190006 (J&K), India

*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]; Tel.: +91 9469037200.

Article history: Received 26 March 2013, Received in revised form 15 April 2013, Accepted 19 April 2013, Published 22 April 2013.

Abstract: The present investigation was carried out on Lidder drainage basin (catchment) in Kashmir Himalaya supporting a varied topography and exhibiting altitudinal extremes of 1592 m and 5500m (asl). The drainage density (Dd) and stream frequency (Fu) of the Lidder drainage basin is 2.52 km km-2(km length per km2 area) and 3.32 km-2 respectively. Drainage density class of Lidder stream is coarse (Dd<5 km km-2) which signifies that it has efficient drainage. Lidder stream is sixth order stream in which the largest share is contributed by first order streams (60.32%). The different soil erosion levels have been used to classify the Lidder catchment into four soil erosion zones (Zone I, Zone II, Zone III, and Zone IV) with respect to soil erosion intensities.

Keywords: erosion levels, catchment, topography, bifurcation ratio, drainage density.

1. Introduction

Valley of Kashmir, nestled in the northwestern folds of Himalaya, is surrounded on almost all sides by mountain ranges and abounds in a vast array of beautiful valleys and freshwater bodies. The Lidder valley has been carved out by River Lidder, a right bank tributary of River Jhelum. It has a

Copyright © 2013 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Mar. Atmos. & Earth Sci. 2013, 1(2): 47-58 48 catchment area of 1159.38 km2 which constitute about 10 per cent of the total catchment area of River Jhelum (Bhat et al., 2007). The steep slopes in the Lidder valley along with depleted forest cover have been major factors of soil erosion and sedimentation. These factors have also affected the drainage patter of Lidder stream significantly and made the system extremely fragile as it has started showing signs of degeneration. In the present study, stream number, stream order, stream frequency, stream density and bifurcation ratio have been derived on the basis of drainage lining and linear properties of drainage channels as represented over the topographical maps (scale 1:50,000). Soil erosion is an important social and economic problem and an essential factor in assessing ecosystem health and function (Lu et al., 2005; Santhi et al., 2006; Miller et al., 2007). Soil erosion study was carried in the Lidder valley to ensure the status of land and watershed management scenarios and offset the ill effects of erosion and sedimentation.

2. Study Area

The catchment area of Lidder stream occupies the south eastern part of the Kashmir valley and is situated between 33º 45′ 01″ N - 34º 15′ 35″ N and 74º 06′ 00″ E–75º 32′ 29″ E (Fig. 1). The Lidder valley forms part of the western Himalaya and lies between the Pir Panjal range in the south, south- east, and southwest Zanskar range. The Lidder valley has been carved out by Lidder river, a right bank tributary of River Jhelum. The valley begins from the base of the two snow fields, the Kolahoi and Sheshnag where from its two main upper streams; the West and the East Lidder originates and join each other near the famous tourist spot Pahalgam town and finally joins the Jhelum at Gur village (Anantnag).

Figure 1. Lidder (catchment) valley: location map

Thousands of pilgrims visit every year on Rakshabandan the famous holy Amarnath Cave of Lidder valley, at a height of 5372 metres above sea level. The pilgrims pass through the Mahagunas pass (1475 metres) on their way to Shri Amarnathji. Sheeshnag the bare mountain peaks resembling the heads of seven big snakes also forms a part of the Lidder stream catchment area. All sorts of mountain transport viz., horses and pittos are used to carry the luggage as well as humans to the shrine and back. This also adds to the anthropogenic activity though once in a year

3. Methodology

The drainage map of Lidder basin was prepared and demarcated from SOI Toposheet maps of Survey of India (No. 43 N/4, 43 N/8, 43 N / 12, 43 O/1) III edition year 1985 of scale 1: 50,000. Morphological properties viz., Bifurcation ratio (Rb) was calculated by using formula:

Where Rb is Bifurcation ratio, Nu is total number of stream segments of u order and Nu+1 is number of segments of next higher order. Drainage density (Dd, km-2) by the following equation:

Number of Streams (Nu), Basin area (Au) and Length of the stream of different orders (Lu) were measured with the help of a Rotometre and thread directly from the map. The method proposed by Strahler (1964) was used to calculate the stream order.

The Universal Soil Loss Equation (USLE) given by Wischmeier and Smith (1978) was used to estimate the soil erosion. A = RKLSCP Where, A is soil loss (tons/hectare/year), R is rainfall and runoff factor, K is soil erodibility factor, L is slope length, S is slope steepness factor and CP is cover management practice factor.

4. Result and Discussion

4.1. Drainage Basin Characteristics and Pattern of Lidder Stream

The Lidder stream originates from the slopes of Pir Panchal range of western Himalaya. The high mountain range of western Himalaya forms the drainage basin of Lidder stream and segregates it from the other adjacent basins. The western part of the upper Lidder stream gathers its water from the slopes of Kohali glacier, Tarsar lake and surrounding peaks in north and north-west respectively forming West Lidder stream while Sheshnag lake and allied glaciers in the north-east supply water to the East tributary part of Lidder stream. These two streams (East Lidder and West Lidder) run as separate two streams which confluence just ahead of proper Phalgam village. After Phalgam confluence Lidder stream flows through comparatively less inclined region in a wide valley and merges into River Jhelum. The trunk stream showed systematic changes in average width (2-200m), mean depth (10-229 cm) and average velocity downstream (0.5-3.6 ms-1) as given in Table 1. The longitudinal profile of the stream is upward concave. The curve exhibited by the gradient is flat towards mouth of stream (Shakeel et al., 2007). The course of east and west Lidder segment is highly inclined as it passes through narrow mountainous range and is studded with massive boulders till it reaches the flat part of the valley near Bumzoo village. The West Lidder stream commences from Kholi glacier at an altitude of 4800m (a.s.l) and also it receives water from Tarsar lake at Lidderwat and descends towards Phalgam (2110 m, a.s.l). It records a fall of 1 m in every 12m in first 32km of slop down from its origin. Similarly the East Lidder descends from Sheshnag Lake (3570m, a.s.l) to Phalgam (2110m, a.s.l) and in its 27.5 km distance it records an average fall of one meter in every 11 m, up to Phalgam. From Phalgam (2110m, a.s.l.) to its confluence point with Jhelum (1596m) the fall is 1 m in every 74m after flowing a distance of 58 km. The fall in the lower stretch is more gradual which is responsible for widening of stream (causing maximum sedimentation and bund erosion). In fact, most settlements in the valley lie in the wider part and most of the land is under cultivation of different crops as this part has easy water availability and fertile soil (floodplains of Lidder stream).

Table 1. In stream measurements of Lidder stream In stream features Min Max Average width(m) 2 200

Mean depth (cm) 10 229 Average velocity (ms-1) 0.5 3.6

Drainage density (Dd) of Lidder is 2.52 km km-2 which denotes that there is 2.52km of channel length available per square kilometer of area, signifying that Lidder stream has efficient drainage with less probability of flooding as the runoff is diluted into the stream segments. Drainage density class of Lidder stream is coarse (Dd<5 km km-2). Stream frequency (Fu) of the Lidder stream is 3.32 km-2 which tell us that there are 3.32 stream segments present per square kilometer of the area in Lidder basin depicting the basin as a whole is well-organized. However, the larger number of segments in the lower order need due consideration as most of them are often non-perennial during autumn and covered with snow during winter. Drainage density measurements revealed that length of stream segment goes on increasing with the increase in stream order. It can be seen from the data that first order segment have shorter mean length (0.59 km) while the fifth order segment has the longest mean length (11.2 km). Total Stream length (Lu) of all the segments in the Lidder basin is about 2858 km; the largest share is contributed by first order (1724 km) and second order (663 km) streams. These two small orders share the maximum number of stream segments followed by other orders (Table 2).

Table 2. Morphometric properties of Lidder drainage basin Stream Number of Stream Length Mean length of Order Streams (Nu) (Lu) / km Stream (Km) I 3056 1724 0.59 II 557 663 1.19 III 126 239 2.32 IV 27 122 4.45 V 5 56 11.2 VI 1 Lu=2858 km -

The mean bifurcation ratio (Rb) of 4.99 for the Lidder basin falls within the standard range and shows that the basin conforms to the characteristics of a natural stream which indicates that the geological structures are less disturbing to the drainage pattern (Table 3). Strahler (1964) suggested that the bifurcation ratios characteristically range between 3.0 and 5.0 for basins in which the geologic structures do not distort the drainage pattern. Bifurcation ratio (Rb) between first and second order segment is 5.48 and 4.42 respectively which signifies that 11 stream segments are involved in making one second order stream. The channel constant maintenance of Lidder stream is 0.396 which means 0.396 square meter of area is supporting each meter of channel length in the basin. The number of streams of various orders in the Lidder basin was examined to determine the stream length (Lu). Table 2 reveals that surface runoff streams of

Copyright © 2013 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Mar. Atmos. & Earth Sci. 2013, 1(2): 47-58 52 relatively smaller lengths are characteristics of areas with larger slopes and finer textures. Longer lengths of streams are generally indicative of flatter gradients. In general the total length of stream segments was the maximum in first order streams and decreased as the stream order increased. Present information signifies that the geometric progression in stream order agrees with that of Horton’s (1932) law of stream length.

Table 3. Bifurcation ratio (Rb) of Lidder stream Stream order Bifurcation Ratio (Rb) I 5.48 II 4.42 III 4.66 IV 5.4 V . VI . Mean bifurcation ratio 4.99

4.2. Drainage Pattern

The branching pattern of Lidder stream look like a tree roots model as it has denderic drainage pattern in which small tributaries join larger stream at an acute angle (less than 90 degrees) forming the dendrite drainage pattern (Figure 2). And it is the most common form of drainage pattern seen in most of the places.

Figure 2. Dendrite drainage pattern

4.3. Stream Ordering of Lidder Stream

Following the Strahler (1964) scheme of ordering streams, it has been found that Lidder stream is sixth order stream with a total of 3771 stream segments of different orders. First order share 3056 stream segments with 81.06% contribution in number of segments and 60.32% share in length of segments, followed by second order stream which accounts about 557 segments with percentage contribution of 14.77% in number of segments and 23.19% in length of segments, followed by third order stream segments which account for 126 segments with total percentage share of 3.34% in number of segments and 10.26% in length of segments. The fourth order streams contribute 27 stream segments with 0.64% share in number of segments and 4.26% share in length of segments while fifth order streams contribute 5 stream segments with 0.19% share in number of segments and 1.97% segments and sixth order stream i.e., the main channel accounts one main stream trunk (Figure 3 and Table 4).

Figure 3. Lidder catchment and stream order

Table 4. Number and percentage share in number and length of stream segments Stream Number of streamsin Percentage sharein Percentage share in order each order number of segments length of segments

I 3056 81.06 60.32 II 557 14.77 23.19 III 126 3.34 10.26 IV 27 0.64 4.26 V 5 0.19 1.97 VI 1 - -

4.4. Sinuosity

According to the survey of India (SOI) toposheets of 1: 50,000 scale the channel distance of the Lidder stream is 105 km, and straight down valley distance is 92 km. Putting values in the equation (Strahler,1964) we get: SI = 105 / 92 =1.141 The above value revealed that stream is meandered as a result of natural factors and processes resulting in self erosion of its banks and high sedimentation in lower reaches.

4.5. Soil Erosion Intensity Zones

Catchment area of Lidder stream encounters one of the complex problems of soil erosion which is derived from diverse factors viz., climate, altitude, slope, relief, deforestation, and other physical features. The magnitude and extent of soil erosion hazards in Lidder basin on the basis of above factors has been classified into four soil erosion intensity zones (Table 5, Fig. 4, and Fig. 5).

4.5.1. Zone I This zone consists of flood plains and adjoining paddy growing fields. The intensity of soil erosion in this zone is low at the rate of 0.72 tons hector-1 year-1. It is because of leveled topography with low slop gradient ranging between 0o to 10o with an average altitude ranging between 1500-1900 m (a.s.l). This zone covers a net area of 160 km2 that is 14.16 % of study area in which the maximum portion of land is under cultivation. The soil of this zone is alluvial in origin and is rich in organic matter which decreases the erodibility of the zone however; slopes facing the river beds are subjected to little soil erosion especially during heavy rain fall and floods.

Table 5. Relation between soil erosion intensity and other physical features

Erosion Topography of Altitude Range of Major land use Class of Erosion Net area % of Net intensity zones of zones slope in patterns erosion intensity (km2) area zones (m) degrees Intensity (tons hec-1 year-1 )

Zone I Flood plain, 1500- 0-10 Paddy None to 0.72- less 160 14.10 paddy belt 1900 cultivation slight

Zone II Flat topped 1900- 10-20 Dry farming Slight to 0.72 -1.54 142 12.52 Karewas, side 2400 Moderate valleys Zone III Slopping 2400- 20-30 Dry farming Moderate 1.54 -10.54 198 17.46 Kerawas, Forest 3200 and pastures to Severe land, Alpine for grazing pastures

Zone IV Rocky Above Above No Moderate 10.5-34.5 634 55.95 mountains,Glac 3200 30 cultivation to Severe ial zones, snow

Figure 4. Elevation profile of Lidder valley

Figure 5. Differ Soil erosion zone of Lidder valley

4.5.2. Zone II This zone acts as a transitional zone between low lying plains and mountainous land. The soil erosion intensity in this zone varies from 0.72 to 1.54 tons hector-1 year-1. It is due to the sloping nature of the terrain which varies between 10o-20o. The zone covers an area of 142km2 that is 12.52 % of study area. This zone comprises of lower foot hills, slopping Karewas and side valleys of the different tributaries which merge into the Lidder stream. This zone lies at an average altitude of 1900- 2400 m with slight to moderate soil erosion intensity. A sizable land is used for grazing in this zone. Soil erosion is the main reason of the soil degradation in the mountain area of the region.

4.5.3. Zone III This Zone forms a linear belt all along zone II consisting of forest slops and alpine pastureland. The intensity of soil erosion is moderate to severe with the rate of 1.54 to 10.5 tons hector-1 year-1. This zone lies at an altitude ranging between 2400-3200 m (a.s.l), with steep hill slop 20o-30o covering an area of 198km2 which is 17.46 % of study area. This zone forms a sloping terrain, coarse texture of soil with less organic matter.

4.5.4. Zone IV This zone is characterized by rocky mountains covered with snow. This zone is devoid of any vegetation cover with an average slop of over 30o. The intensity of soil erosion is very high at the rate of 10.5 to 34.5 tons hector-1 year-1. This zone covers an area of 634 km2 which is 55.95 % of study area

Copyright © 2013 by Modern Scientific Press Company, Florida, USA Int. J. Mar. Atmos. & Earth Sci. 2013, 1(2): 47-58 57 in which 55.9 % of land is unavailable for cultivation and remaining 0.05% is under dry farming. This zone is characterized by upper hilly area, and glacial zones of middle Himalayas.

5. Conclusions

Lidder stream, a sixth order stream has efficient drainage. Soil erosion is the main reason of the soil degradation in the Lidder valley. Soil along the banks in Lidder valley is losing its productivity because of frequent erosions thus, suggesting formation of silt trap beds and aforestation.

6. Acknowledgements

We are thankful to various departments viz., The Forest Department (Subdivision Anantnag), Geology and Mining Department Srinagar, Environment Ecology and Remote Sensing Department Srinagar and Soil Conservation Department (Subdivision Phalgam) for providing necessary secondary data. The authors acknowledge the immense help received from the scholars whose articles are cited and included in references of this manuscript. The authors are also grateful to authors / editors / publishers of all those articles, journals and books from where the literature for this article has been reviewed.

References

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