
SEDIMENT TRANSPORT IN THE RIVERS OF NEPAL
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Download | pub_1630244043609.pdf | USAID Paani Sediment Transport in the Rivers of Nepal FINAL.pdf | 1.73 MB | application/pdf | View Document |
Publication Details
- Source
- Category
- Technical Reports
- Publisher
- USAID Paani Program
- Contributor
- Rights
- USAID Paani Program
- Language
- English
- Content
- High relief, monsoonal rain and rapid uplift drive erosion processes in the Himalayas make the rivers of the region outstanding in terms of sediment transport. For example, the Ganges-Brahmaputra system conveys an estimated sediment load 1.4 billion tons of sediment per year to its lower floodplains and the delta, of which 1.0 billion tons, equaling 8 – 10 % of the global sediment delivery to the oceans, reach the Gulf of Bengal. Around 600 - 800 million tons of sediment originate from tributaries of the Ganges that drain the southern-facing slope of the Himalayas and most of that sediment is contributed by rivers that originate in Nepal (Lupker et al., 2012; Wasson, 2003; Goodbred and Kuehl, 1999). However, while Nepal’s rivers are certainly outstanding with regard to the amount of sediment that they transport the linkages between sediments, river processes, ecosystems and infrastructure in these rivers are sparsely monitored and understood incompletely