Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306 316

www.elsevier.com/locate/geomorph

Geomorphic effectiveness of extraordinary floods on three large

rivers of the Indian Peninsula
Vishwas S. Kale
Department of Geography, University of Pune, Pune 411 007, India
Received 15 December 2004; received in revised form 2 May 2005; accepted 29 March 2006
Available online 7 September 2006

Abstract
The efficacy of extreme events is directly linked to the flood power and the total energy expended. The geomorphic effectiveness of
floods is evaluated in terms of the distribution of stream power per unit boundary area () over time, for three very large floods of the 20th
Century in the Indian Peninsula. These floods stand out as outliers when compared with the peak floods per unit drainage area recorded
elsewhere in the world. We used flood hydrographs and at-a-station hydraulic geometry equations, computed for the same gauging site or a
nearby site, to construct approximately stream-power curves and to estimate the total energy expended by each flood. Critical unit stream
power values necessary to entrain cobbles and boulders were estimated on the basis of empirical relationships for coarse sediment transport
developed by Williams [Williams, G.P., 1983. Paleohydrological methods and some examples from Swedish fluvial environments. I.
Cobble and boulder deposits. Geografiska Annaler 65A, 227243.] in order to determine the geomorphological effectiveness of the
floods. The estimates indicate that the minimum power per unit area values for all three floods were sufficiently high, and stream energy
was above the threshold of boulder movement (90 W m 2) for several tens of hours. The peak unit stream power values and the total
energy expended during each flood were in the range of 290325 W m 2 and 65160 106 J respectively. The average and peak flood
powers were found to be higher or comparable to those estimated for extreme palaeo or modern floods on low-gradient, alluvial rivers.
2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Floods; Geomorphic effectiveness; Stream-power graphs; Energy expenditure; Indian Peninsula

1. Introduction
All large rivers of the Indian Peninsula are subjected to
high-magnitude floods at intervals of several years to
decades (Gupta, 1995; Kale, 2003). Such floods produce
substantial hydrodynamic forces, and are likely to be
geomorphologically effective if of long duration and if
power expenditure is high (Costa and O'Connor, 1995).
However, due to lack of hydrologic, hydraulic and geomorphic data the geomorphic effectiveness of such highmagnitude floods is often difficult to compute in terms of

E-mail address: vskale@unipune.ernet.in.

0169-555X/$ - see front matter 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2006.03.026

the distribution of stream power per unit boundary area

() over time (Kale and Hire, 2004).
We estimate effective stream power for one flood at
one site each on three large rivers (basin areaN 50000 km2)
in the Indian Peninsula and compare those floods to others
worldwide. The rivers are the Tapi, the Narmada and the
Godavari (Fig. 1). The estimates of effective stream power
were checked against work thresholds.
2. Geomorphic and hydrologic setting
The Godavari is the largest river of the Indian Peninsula
that drains a basin area of 312 812 km2 before debouching
eastward into the Bay of Bengal. The Narmada and Tapi

V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

307

Fig. 1. Drainage map of India showing the location of the three rivers and the three gauging sites mentioned in the text for which the stream-power graphs
were constructed. 1. Garudeshwar on the Narmada, 2. Ghala on the Tapi; Ukai site is just upstream of the Ghala site, and 3. Koida on the Godavari.
Triangles represent neighbouring gauging stations for which long records of the annual peak discharge data are available and used in this paper.

Rivers are the two largest and highly floodprone westflowing rivers with catchment areas of 98796 km2 and
65145 km2 respectively (Kale et al., 1994). The average
channel gradients of the Narmada, Tapi and Godavari
Rivers are 0.0008, 0.001 and 0.0007 respectively. All the
three rivers flow through geomorphologically and tectonically active regions that are also affected by frequent
flood-producing storms. Large floods during the monsoon
season (JuneOctober) are common and the channels
show many features indicative of high-energy processes.
2.1. Channel morphology
The rivers under review flow through both bedrock
and alluvial reaches. CretaceousEocene Deccan Trap
basalts occur in the Tapi Basin and Proterozoic rocks of
the Vindhyan Supergroup or Trap basalts in that of the
Narmada (Kale et al., 1994; Rajaguru et al., 1995). The
geology of the Godavari Basin is diverse and includes

Deccan Trap basalts, granite gneisses and Gondwana

sedimentary rocks (Babu and Lakshmi, 2005).
All three rivers have single, low sinuosity, and welldefined channels, incised into alluvium or bedrock. The
channels are box-shaped in appearance and the width
depth ratio during rainstorm-generated high floods is
generally less than 30. Flows, therefore, get deeper and
faster as the discharge increases (Kale et al., 1994; Kale
and Hire, 2004). The rivers have adequate channel
capacity and even high flows usually do not fill the
whole channel. Overbank flows are uncommon. Floodplain formation and point bar development is restricted
within the high channel banks. The channel floor is either
covered by gravelly or sandy gravelly material.
2.2. Climate and hydrology
All the three rivers are fed by monsoonal rains and
monsoon disturbances (cyclones and depressions). The

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V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

average annual rainfall in the Tapi, Narmada and

Godavari Basins is 830 mm, 1250 mm and 920 mm
respectively (Kale et al., 1994; Nageswara Rao, 2001).
About 80 to 90% of the annual rainfall is received
during the monsoon months (June to October). The
basins are located within the zone of severe rainstorms
(Dhar and Nandargi, 1995), and the foremost cause of
severe floods on these rivers is cyclonic storms originating over the Bay of Bengal (Ramasawamy, 1985).
Annual hydrographs available for several gauging
sites on the three rivers reflect the seasonal rhythm of the

monsoon rainfall as common for Indian rivers and illustrate a regime with one pronounced maximum.
2.3. Annual maximum series
Long records of the annual peak discharge data are
available for all three rivers (Fig. 2). Discharges of all
the large floods since 1876 and stages of all the extreme
floods between 1727 and 1876 have been recorded for the
Surat gauging site (Fig. 1) located near the mouth of the
Tapi River. These data show that the 1837 flood was the

Fig. 2. (A) Record of the high flood stages on the Tapi River at Surat. The dotted line represents the Danger Level (29 m), which is approximately equal to
the bankfull stage and is the maximum safe level for the Surat city (Purohit, 1972). The flood stage has been plotted as continuous annual peak discharge
data are not available for the entire gauging period. (B) Time series plot of annual peak discharge on the Narmada River. The upper line represents the flood
stage recorded at Bharuch, and the lower one line (solid circles) the annual peak discharge (Q) recorded at Garudeshwar on the Narmada. (C) Time series
plot of annual peak discharge (Q) on the Godavari at Dowlaiswaram. The largest floods of the 20th Century at each site are shown by solid triangles. Data
source: Purohit (1972), Nageswara Rao (2001), Unesco (1976), Central Water Commission, New Delhi and other sources.

V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

309

Fig. 3. Unit peak discharges (rainfall floods) plotted against drainage basin area for 22 large world rivers (solid circles) and the three rivers under review
(triangles). Unit discharge equal to 0.1 m3 s 1 km 2 is shown by a horizontal line. Rainfallflood data for the world rivers from O'Connor and Costa (2004).

highest on record since 1727 in terms of stage, and the

flood of 1968 on the Tapi River, with a peak discharge of
42 500 m3 s 1 (Purohit, 1972), was the largest in the last
century (Fig. 2A). The annual peak stage data for Bharuch
(Fig. 1), situated close to the mouth of the Narmada River,
indicate that the highest flood level (Fig. 2B) since the
beginning of the systematic record in 1887 was recorded
in 1970 (69 400 m3 s 1). On the Godavari River, the
annual peak discharge data are available since 1905 for
the Dowlaiswaram gauging site (Fig. 1), situated close to
the mouth of the river. The largest recorded flood
(99 300 m3 s 1) occurred in 1986 (Fig. 2C).
The average annual floods, with a recurrence interval
of 2.33 years, on the Tapi (at Ukai), Narmada (at
Garudeshwar) and Godavari (at Dowlaiswaram) are
14 323 m3 s 1, 27 932 m3 s 1 and 32 772 m3 s 1
respectively. This shows that the large floods under
review were 2.5 to 3.0 times greater than the mean
annual floods. Fig. 3 shows that in terms of unit peak
discharges the floods under review are significantly
high, even by world standards. Moreover, the flood
events were of long duration lasting between 120 and
240 h (Fig. 4). Since high-magnitude floods of long
duration are more effective than short-duration events of
comparable scale (Costa and O'Connor, 1995), it is
likely that the events under review had a significant
impact on the channel and valley morphology.

specific stream power (Baker and Costa, 1987; Magilligan, 1992; Knighton, 1999; Kale and Hire, 2004;
Reinfelds et al., 2004). The specific or unit stream power
of a flow is a function of flood magnitude, channel

3. Methodology
3.1. Determination of unit stream power
The geomorphic effectiveness of a flood, which
relates to its ability to affect the form of the landscape
(Wolman and Gerson, 1978), is commonly linked to

Fig. 4. Flood hydrographs of the (A) 1968 flood at Ukai on the Tapi
(catchment area 62 224 km2), (B) 1970 flood at Garudeshwar on the
Narmada (catchment area 89 345 km2), and (C) 1986 flood at
Dowlaiswaram on the Godavari (catchment area 309 000 km2). Source:
A and B after Ramasawamy (1985), and C after Nageswara Rao (2001).

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V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

Table 1
Discharge and upstream catchment area of the river gauging sites used in the present study
Flood
event

Magnitude of the peak

discharge (m2 s 1)

River

Gauging site for which hydrograph was

constructed
Name

Catchment area (km2)

Gauging site for which stream-power

graph was constructed
Name

Catchment area (km2)

Catchment
area ratio
5/7

1968
1970
1986

42 450
69 400
99 300

Tapi
Narmada
Godavari

Ukai
Garudeshwar
Dowlaiswaram

62 224
89 345
309 000

Ghala
Garudeshwar
Koida

63 325
89 345
305 460

0.98
1.00
1.01

dimensions, and the energy gradient (Baker and Costa,

1987)
s gRS

x sv gQS=w

where, is stream power per unit boundary area in W

m 2, is boundary shear stress in N m 2, is the
specific weight of clear water (9800 N m 3), Q is
discharge in m3 s 1, S is energy slope, w is flow width
in m, R is the hydraulic radius of water in m, and v is the
average flow velocity in m s1. In this study the flow
density has been assumed to be the same as for clear
water, and the channel gradient has been used as a proxy
for the energy slope.
In order to evaluate the ability of a flood to be geomorphically effective, the unit stream power is usually
calculated for peak discharges (Baker and Costa, 1987).
However, Costa and O'Connor (1995) have demonstrated that a better estimate of the potential for a flood to be
geomorphically effective is provided by the streampower graphs and by the computation of the average and
the total energy expended over the duration of flood. In
the present study such graphs have been constructed for
all three floods to quantitatively evaluate their flood
potential.
3.2. Construction of stream-power graphs
For the construction of stream-power graphs, data
regarding variations in hydraulic geometry variables
throughout the flood period are required (Costa and
O'Connor, 1995). As is nearly always the case with

extreme events (Baker and Kale, 1998), appropriate data

regarding hydraulic variables (flow width, depth, velocity and energy slope) for the events under review are
not available to evaluate the temporal variations in the
unit stream power. However, gauge records allow construction of flood hydrographs for the three floods. The
flood hydrographs and at-a-station hydraulic geometry
equations computed for the same site or a nearby site
were used to construct the stream-power curves. For the
1968 flood on Tapi and the 1986 flood on Godavari,
data from two sites had to be considered, as the flood
hydrographs and hydraulic variable data were not available for the same site. The methodology adopted to
estimate approximately the temporal variation in the unit
stream power for each event is described below. Table 1
introduces the gauging sites and the channel morphology of the sites included in the present study is described
in Table 2.
3.2.1. The 1968 flood on the Tapi River
The flood hydrograph of the 1968 flood on the Tapi
River (Fig. 4A) was constructed for the Ukai Dam site
(Ramasawamy, 1985). However, the requisite hydraulic
parameters for the estimation of the stream-power graph
are not available for this event at the site. The crosssection at Ukai site has apparently undergone significant
changes due to the construction of a large dam, which
was completed in 1972 and it is no longer representative
of earlier flood sections.
Therefore, an indirect method was adopted to construct approximately the stream-power curve for the
extreme event at Ghala (Kale and Hire, 2004), a Central
Water Commission (CWC) gauging site. The Ghala

Table 2
Channel morphological characteristics of the river gauging sites used in the present study
River

Gauging site

Channel type

Maximuma width (m)

Maximuma depth (m)

Width depth ratio

Gradient (10 4)

Bed material

Tapi
Narmada
Godavari

Ghala
Garudeshwar
Koida

Alluvial
Alluvial
Alluvial

535
649
676

18
27
31

29
24
22

3.7
3.0
2.9

Gravel
Gravel
Sandy gravel

Estimated for the largest flood on the basis of hydraulic geometry equations given in Table 3.

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311

recorded at Ukai (Kale and Hire, 2004). The indirectly

computed discharges, the corresponding flood levels and
the cross-sectional area at Ghala were then used to derive
the hydraulic parameters. The width (w) and channel area
(A) of the flood were measured from the cross-section for
different stages. The mean depth was obtained by dividing channel area by flow width (A / w). The mean
velocity was calculated by dividing the discharge by
channel area (Q / A). The estimated hydraulic variables
(flow width, mean depth, and mean velocity) were then
used to determine the hydraulic geometry equations
(Table 3).
The discharges over the duration (120 h) of the 1968
flood, the corresponding flow widths (estimated on the
basis of hydraulic geometry equations) and the channel
gradient were used to compute approximately the
temporal variations in the stream power values. Fig.
6A demonstrates the stream-power graph constructed by
Kale and Hire (2004).
3.2.2. The 1970 flood on the Narmada River
The hydrograph for the 1970 flood on the Naramda
River (Fig. 4B) was constructed for the Garudeshwar
gauging site (Ramasawamy, 1985). The CWC site at
Garudeshwar was established in December 1971. Using
the available discharge and stage data of the Garudeshwar gauge site (n = 30) and the available channel crosssection (Fig. 5B), we determined the flow width, depth
and velocity for the 1970 flood. For a given discharge,
the stage and surveyed channel cross-section were used
to estimate the flow width (w) and the corresponding
channel area (A). The mean depth and velocity were then
computed as for the Tapi at Ghala. The hydraulic
parameters (flow width, mean depth and mean velocity)
were then used to compute the hydraulic geometry
equations for the Garudeshwar site (Table 3). The width
discharge relationship was used to estimate the flow
width for different discharges during the 1970 flood
event. The discharge, the estimated flow width, the
channel gradient, and the assumed flow density (9800 N
m 3) were used to compute the stream-power graph for
the flood event, which lasted for more than 240 h. Fig.
6B shows the resulting unit stream-power curve.

Fig. 5. Channel cross-sections. (A) At Ghala across the Tapi River, (B)
At Garudeshwar across the Narmada River, and (C) Between Koida
and Dowlaiswaram on the Godavari River. Cross-section at the Koida
gauging site is not available. The cross-section shown in the figure is
somewhat narrower than the Koida cross-section, but the overall
morphology is similar. HFL = high flood level. Source of A and B after
CWC, and C based on field survey.

gauging site (Fig. 1), established in 1977, was selected

because the channel cross-section is available for this
site, and because the hydraulic geometry equations could
be estimated. Ghala is about 65 km downstream of the
Ukai site, and no major tributary enters the Tapi River
between the two stations.
The stage levels of the 1968 flood at the Ghala crosssection (Fig. 5A) were derived using the loglog
regression equation (r2 = 0.96) between flood stage at
Ghala and flood discharge (Table 1) at the Ukai Dam
(ratio of the catchment areas 0.98), and assuming that the
flood discharges at Ghala were at least equal to that

Table 3
Hydraulic geometry equations for the river gauging sites used in the present study
River
Tapi
Narmada
Godavari
Q = discharge in m3 s 1.

Gauging site
Ghala
Garudeshwar
Koida

Width (w) in m
0.05

w = 313.8 Q
w = 190.4 Q0.11
w = 380.7 Q0.05

Depth (d) in m
0.48

d = 0.11 Q
d = 0.024 Q0.63
d = 0.09 Q0.51

Velocity (v) in m s 1
v = 0.03 Q0.47
v = 0.22 Q0.27
v = 0.03 Q0.43

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V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

(Fig. 1) was selected because hydraulic geometry

equations could be computed for this site on the basis of
recent data on hydraulic variables. The 1986 flood
hydrograph could not be generated for this site because
of complete inundation in flood. The channel morphology
of this reach is approximately represented by the channel
cross-section given in Fig. 5C.
Using a power regression equation (r2 = 0.94) between flood discharges at Koida and Dowlaiswaram
(ratio of the catchment areas 1.01) (Table 1), the flood
discharges for the period of 1986 flood event (ca. 240 h)
at Koida were derived. The at-a-station hydraulic
geometry equations (Table 3) computed for the Koida
gauging site were then used to derive the hydraulic
parameters (flow width, depth, and velocity) during the
1986 flood period. The discharge, the estimated flow
width, the channel gradient and the assumed flow density
(9800 N m 3) were used to approximately estimate the
variation in the stream power values over the duration of
the flood (Fig. 6C).
It is possible that the indirect method adopted to estimate
the flood flow parameters might have increased the error
term in the estimation of stream powers and total energy.
However, this is an attempt to derive an approximate
measure of the maximum stream power and the total energy
that was expended over the duration of the three
extraordinary floods of the twentieth century in the absence
of any systematic data, and should be treated as such.
3.3. Total energy expenditure over the duration of flood

Fig. 6. Stream power-graphs. (A) 1968 flood at Ghala on the Tapi

River (After Kale and Hire, 2004), (B) 1970 flood at Garudeshwar on
the Narmada River, and (C) 1986 flood at Koida on the Godavari
River. The threshold of movement of coarse sediments in terms of unit
stream power is also given for reference (dashed lines). The thresholds
were estimated by using empirical relationship for coarse sediment
transport developed by Williams (1983). The stream power graphs are,
more or less, identical to the flood hydrographs presented in Fig. 4.

3.2.3. The 1986 flood on the Godavari River

An indirect method was also adopted to construct
approximately the stream-power graph for the 1986 flood
on the Godavari River (Fig. 4C). The Dowlaiswaram
gauging site, maintained by the Irrigation Department of
Andhra Pradesh State, was completely submerged under
floodwaters after the peak discharge was recorded. The
falling limb was subsequently reconstructed (Nageswara
Rao, 2001). However, the data regarding hydraulic
variables for this gauging site are not available. Therefore,
an upstream CWC site, located at Koida (about 88 km)

The total energy generated by the flood was

computed by estimating the area under the streampower graphs, and the average energy per unit area ()
that was expended over the duration of the floods was
estimated by (Costa and O'Connor, 1995)
Z
X

gQ S=w dt

where, t is time in seconds and all other variables

defined as before. The results are presented in Table 4.
3.4. Threshold of movement of coarse sediment
Apart from flood power, geomorphic effectiveness of
a flood event is equally determined by land surface
resistance (Baker and Costa, 1987; Costa and O'Connor,
1995). Significant changes in the landscape occur when
the flood power exceeds resistance thresholds (Magilligan, 1992). However, accurately quantifying landscape
resistance and erosional threshold of the perimeter

V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

Table 4
Peak unit stream power and total energy expended during the three
large floods under study and other reported large flood events
River/flood

Channel Flood
types
event

Tapi
Narmada
Godavari
Mississippi
Plum Creek,
Coloradob
Bonneville
Floodb
Missoula
Floodb

Alluvial
Alluvial
Alluvial
Alluvial
Alluvial

Average
stream
power
(W m 2/
(J/s))

1968
1970
1986
1927
1965

Peak
unit
stream
power
(W m 2)

Energy
expended
per unit
area
(106 J)

150
130
190
6a
110

290
325
310
12a
630

65
115
160
22b
4

Alluvial Prehistoric, 150

dam-failure
Bedrock Prehistoric, 8100
dam-failure

300

1700

60 000

3500

stream powers required to move cobbles (N 64 mm),

boulders (N 256 mm) and larger 0.5 m boulders measure
16, 90 and 212 W m 2 respectively. These minimum
entrainment threshold values are higher than those
obtained by employing the relation developed by
O'Connor (1993), but lower than those derived from
regression equation of Costa (1983).
4. Results and discussion

All values rounded off.

a
After Baker and Costa (1987).
b
After Costa and O'Connor (1995).

lithology is difficult (Costa and O'Connor, 1995; Kale

and Hire, 2004). Therefore, in order to express the
ability of the flows to be geomorphically effective,
empirical relations between unit stream power () and
critical entrainment threshold for cobbles and boulders
were used (Kale and Hire, 2004). For this the following
Williams' (1983) relationship was employed
x 0:079d 1:27 10VdV1500 mm

313

where, d is the intermediate diameter of the grain in mm.

Theoretical estimates indicate that the minimum unit

Channel geometry controls the role of discharge,

because flood power is dependent on channel width,
depth, and gradient (Baker and Costa, 1987). The
alluvial reaches under review are box-shaped in
appearance and have low widthdepth ratio (b 30). The
channel floor covered by gravel or sandy-gravel is, more
or less, flat and the alluvial banks are high and steep.
With the arrival of monsoon runoff, as the discharge and
stage rise, there is a marginal increase in channel width,
but a remarkable rise in channel depth. Consequently, the
widthdepth ratio decreases progressively along with a
simultaneous increase in the hydraulic efficiency of the
flows (Kale and Hire, 2004). Hydraulic geometry
equations obtained for the study sites (Table 3) indicate
that the rates of change in depth (f) and mean velocity (m)
with discharge are appreciably higher than the rate of
change in width (b). This is also evident from the channel
cross-sections in Fig. 5. Since the stream power per unit
boundary area is inversely related to width and directly
related to flow depth and velocity, the rivers achieve high
power by significantly increasing their depth during
large-magnitude floods.

Fig. 7. Plot of peak specific stream power (W m 2) versus energy expended per unit area (106 J). Events with extreme geomorphic impacts are shown
with solid circles and the solid diamonds represent events with small geomorphic impacts (data after Costa and O'Connor, 1995). Triangles represent
floods discussed in this paper. The dotted line approximately demarcates the cluster of events with extreme geomorphic impacts. Line of critical unit
stream power (c) is after Magilligan (1992).

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V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

The maximum unit stream power at the study sites on

the Tapi, Narmada and Godavari Rivers were 290, 325
and 310 W m 2 respectively. These values are higher by
an order of magnitude than those derived for large
alluvial rivers like the Amazon, the Mississippi, the
Ganga and the Brahmaputra Rivers, but are lower by 1
2 orders of magnitude than those obtained for bedrock
rivers, such as the Changjiang (Qutang Gorge) in China,
the Katherine Gorge in Australia or the Narmada
(Punasa Gorge) in India (Baker and Costa, 1987;
Baker and Kale, 1998; Kale, 2003). Interestingly, the
peak stream power values are similar to Magilligan's
(1992) minimum thresholds of critical unit stream
power (300 W m 2) associated with major morphological adjustments in gentle gradient alluvial channels in
humid and sub-humid regions (Fig. 7). Miller (1990)
also identified 300 W m 2 as the threshold value of unit
stream power that can be associated with severe channel
and floodplain erosion. The derived peak values are also
comparable to the maximum power per unit area
estimated for the Bonneville palaeoflood (300 W m 2)
on the Snake River in the Burley Basin in Idaho, USA
(O'Connor, 1993).
The total and the average energy expended per unit
area during the three flood events were estimated to be
in the range of 65 to 160 106 J and 130 to 190 W m 2
(Table 4). Although the values are significantly lower
than those computed for the prehistoric cataclysmic
floods generated by the failure of natural dams (Table 4),
they are higher or comparable to those produced by
rivers with wide alluvial floodplains and low channel
gradients (Fig. 7).
The results of the analyses imply that the events
under review were likely to be capable of substantial
sediment transport and severe channel and floodplain
erosion. In case of all the three rivers, the channel bed
sediments are either gravelly or sandy-gravelly. Although there are no data or information, the coarse
sediments were expected to move under such highenergy conditions. The data presented in Table 5
indicate that in all the three cases, the specific stream
power exceeded the Williams' (1983) threshold of
cobble movement throughout the flood period. The
results further reveal that the unit stream powers were
above the boulder-threshold for at least 70 to 200 h, and
surpassed the threshold of 0.5-m boulder entrainment
for 40 to 80 h. It is therefore, likely that these three
floods were extremely effective in terms of coarse
sediment transport and perhaps bedrock erosion and
channel modification.
Although there are a good number of reports on
severe damages to property and heavy loss of life

Table 5
Approximate duration of energy levels above the Williams' (1983)
threshold of cobble and boulder movement during the three
extraordinary floods
River

Flood Duration in
Duration in
event hours above the hours above
threshold of
the threshold
cobble
of boulder
(N64 mm)
(N256 mm)
movement
movement

Tapi
1968
Narmada 1970
Godavari 1986

120
240
240

70
110
215

Duration in
hours above the
threshold of
larger boulders
(N500 mm)
movement
40
50
80

Based on Fig. 6.

(Purohit, 1972; Ramasawamy, 1985), there is practically

no information on the geomorphic impacts of these rare
events to verify the conclusions of the present study.
Nevertheless, there is enough evidence from a number
of rivers in Peninsular India that the coarse bedload
moves by several tens of meters during high flows
(Thatte et al., 1986; Kale et al., 1994; Deodhar and
Kale, 1999) and even smaller floods are capable of
eroding the channel (Rajaguru et al., 1995; Kale and
Hire, 2004). Time-based studies of channel cross-sections of the Tapi River in the alluvial reach by Kale and
Hire (2004) indicate that floods of lower magnitude
(1819,000 m3 s 1) have been responsible for channel
erosion. The same study also revealed that large floods
can transport up to 70% of the annual suspended
sediment load. It is, therefore, likely that the three floods
under review were capable of substantial bank erosion
and channel modification.
The most interesting evidence of sediment transport
is provided by a study of bedload transport from the
lower Narmada River. Thatte et al. (1986) conducted
field experiments to estimate the rate of bedload
movement along the bed of the Narmada River by
entrapping bedload in large pits and by using marked
pebbles. The study was carried out over a period of
seven years (19791985) at Tilakwada, located 17 km
downstream of the Garudeshwar gauging site. During
this period, the largest flood on the river was recorded in
1984, which was close to 44 000 m3 s 1 (about twothirds in magnitude of the 1970 flood). In 1984, large
pits (381 to 1180 m3) were completely filled by sand and
gravel. Field experiments carried out for tracking down
pebbles and cobbles, which were coated with fluorescent paint, revealed that the maximum distance traveled
by pebbles (2560 mm) was 142 m, and about 75% of
the painted pebbles (2560 mm in size) traveled up to
55 m. The study also shows that the amount of bedload
sediment transport estimated on the basis of theoretical

V.S. Kale / Geomorphology 85 (2007) 306316

equations is significantly lower than the findings based

on field experiments.
Such movements of large number of pebbles and
complete filling of large excavated pits underscores the
fact that floods in the Indian Peninsular rivers are
capable of transporting large amount of coarse bedload.
Very large floods as discussed in this paper therefore
should be capable of transporting enormous amount of
sediment and changing channel morphology in a
significant way.
5. Conclusions
The stream energy expended during the three very
large floods of three large rivers of the Indian Peninsula
was quantified. The peak stream power per unit area
values were close to 300 W m 2, the total energy
expended during the flood events was in the range of 65
to 160 106 J and the average energy 130190 J/s or
W m 2. These values are amongst the highest (Fig. 7)
for rainfall-generated floods on large, alluvial rivers
recorded elsewhere in the world so far (Baker and Costa,
1987; Costa and O'Connor, 1995; Kale, 2003).
Computations further indicate that during the floods
the energy levels were above the Williams' (1983)
threshold of cobble and boulder-movement for several
tens of hours. It is likely that these events were also
capable of generating hydrodynamic processes competent to exceed the threshold of erosion of the material
exposed along the channel perimeter.
Acknowledgement
The results presented in this paper are largely based on
studies carried out in connection with two research projects
undertaken by the author and supported by the Indian
Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi. The
author acknowledges the help received from K. Nageswara Rao and L. S. Chamyal in data collection. Thanks are
also due to Central Water Commission, New Delhi and the
Irrigation Departments of the Andhra and Maharashtra
States for providing hydrological data. The author is
thankful to W. Andrew Marcus, Jim O'Connor and Avijit
Gupta for their critical and constructive comments.
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