Anthropocene Societal-fluviology Distractions Using Geomatics, the Barakar River Sub-Basin, India

Abstract

The Barkar River Basin (BKRB) is a sub-basin of the Damodar River, draining from an area of 7026 Km2 in the states of Jharkhand and West Bengal in India has a rich geological history late Quaternary period (47KYBP). Floods were outweighing the economics of the floodplain cushions. Presently, the BKRB has two multipurpose dams in the BKRB at Tilaiya and Maithon. The sub-basin is apocalyptic after the constitution of the Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) in the 1950s during the pre-Anthropocene Epoch. The Socio-economic activities of Homosapiens in BKRB have historical significance of the past. The integrated study of the traditional topographic survey has been conducted by using Q-GIS/RS methodologies. The Global Positioning System (GPS, Garmin), Landsat imageries, Google Earth Pro, ArcGIS 10.8, and Google Earth Engine (GEE) tools are employed to make various basic characteristic maps. The indices, like Normalised Difference vegetation Index (NDVI), moisture index (NDMI), Built-in index (NDBI), Waterbody NDWI Index, have been made and analysed. The prehistoric human existence in the BKRB has been reported through proxies during post Last Glacial maximum activities 17k YBP. The study reveals that BKRB running through dilapidated health stemming from sand and coal mining, soil erosion, and land degradation, impacting socio-economic health, morphology, and yield. The basin's unique topography, geology, lithology, and morphology, like wide, shallow meandering channels, rocky beds, and sharp valleys, exacerbated problems. Reconstruction of the BKRB shall address the morphology and socioeconomic issues, and shall solve the SDGs such as SDG 6, SDG 15, SDG 2, SDG 13, and SDG 17.