[01] Kuldeep Pareta, DHI (India) Water & Environment Pvt Ltd., New Delhi, India.

The present study on Majuli island, the largest India river island of the Brahmaputra, aims to studying why it is shrinking. For that biophysical and fluvial geomorphological studies have been done through historical multi-temporal satellite imageries. The Majuli island is located in the middle of two structurally dynamic belts, viz. the Himalayan belt in the north and the Patkai-Naga-Arakan belt in the south. Major part of Majuli Island cover part of vast Brahmaputra flood plain which constitutes a thick pile of Quaternary alluvial deposits and has a gentle to moderate slope. Geologically, the Majuli Island comprises rocks ranging in age from Pleistocene to Holocene. The area is broadly comprising alluvium sediments. Majuli has a total area of 1256.36 Km² and 1255.00 Km² in 1891 and 1901 respectively but having lost significantly to erosion it has an area of 630.72 Km² in 1973, 536.96 Km² in 1996, 473.16 Km² in 2000, 461.27 Km² in 2005, 454.88 Km² in 2010, 451.42 Km² in 2015, and 435. 87 Km² in 2020. According to literature review, Landsat satellite imageries analysis, and various sources, Majuli island is continuously shrinking due to heavy erosion and flooding. The length of Majuli island has additionally diminished enormously from 79.70 Km in 1915 to 75.16 Km in 1975 and afterward 63.33 Km in 2005, and 53.08 Km in 2020 (about 33.40% decrease contrasted with 1915). The particular stretch of Majuli island along Brahmaputra river has lost approximately 3.07 Km² area per year and gained only 1.66 Km² per year. The erosion and deposition pattern of the Majuli island along Brahmaputra river is showing a decreasing trend, and after the year of 2011, these has more-or-less no erosion and deposition, which corresponds to the good flood management in Majuli island over the last few years, but Majuli island needs corrective measure, appropriate planning, and governmental support to stabilize the riverbank lines and protect riverbank from erosion.

Majuli Island, Geomorphology, Geology, Soil, Land Use, Satellite Imagery

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