River Morphology and Ecology

·       Introduction to stream hydrology and ecology: Physical properties of water, sediment and channel flow; Channel hydraulics and river discharge; River hydrographs (UH, IUH, SUH, GIUH) and its application in hydrological analysis; Flood frequency analysis. Introduction to river ecosystem synthesis.

·       River basin: Hydrological response of a river basin, Sediment source and catchment erosion processes, transition between hillslope and fluvial processes, Longitudinal river profiles, Sediment load and sediment yield, Sediment transport process in rivers, Erosion and sedimentation processes in channel, Geochemical proxies to study sediment dynamics in a river basin.

·       Drainage network: Quantitative analysis of network organization - morphometry, Random Topology (RT) model and fractal analysis, Role of drainage network in flux transfer, 3-dimensional connectivity in a river basin, Processes in confluence zones, Evolution of drainage network.

·       River processes and morphology: River fluxes, energy distribution and patterns of alluvial rivers - braided, meandering and anabranching channels; Hydrological, sedimentological and ecological characteristics and their interrelationship in different channel patterns; Dynamics of alluvial rivers; Different classification approaches in fluvial geomorphology and its applications. Introduction to geomorphic concepts: threshold, sensitivity, connectivity, hierarchy and complexity.

·       Glacio-fluvial interaction: Source of water in river system, Hydrological budgeting in the mountainous region, Introduction to the models of glacial melt, spatial variability of glacial melt component in the Himalaya

·       Bedrock channels: Stream Power law and Bedrock incision process; River response to climate, tectonics and human disturbance; Quantitative analysis of bedrock channel processes and evolution of fluvial landscapes.

·       Stream Management: Fluvial hazards and their causes, Integrated approach to stream management, Concept of river health, Environmental Flow (e-flow) – definition, data requirement, different approaches for e-flow estimation.

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