Abstract
The Ganges—Brahmaputra Delta is one of the most densely populated areas of the world. The delta occupies most of the Bengal Basin and is slowly subsiding as a result of isostatic adjustment of the crust due to rise of the Himalayas and dewatering of the Proto-Bengal Fan sediments which is now buried under thick Mio-Pliocene-Pleistocene deltaic sediments. Well-log data from northwest of Dhaka indicates that at least a part of the basin is subsiding at a rate of 2.2 cm/year. Three areas of the basin — the Hatiya Trough, Faridpur Trough and Sylhet Trough — may be subsiding at similar or higher rates. Engineering projects that do not consider the subsidence component in planning and designing may produce results detrimental to the environment.
The subsidence and the relative sea-level rise could cause serious drainage and sedimentation problems in the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta. With higher sea level, more areas will be affected by cyclonic surge; inland fresh water lakes, ponds and aquifers are likely to be affected by saline and brackish water intrusion. The present limit of tidal influence is expected to extend further north. Expected sea-level rise will cause soil salinity, as well as surface water and ground water salinity for a large part of the coastal area. The above conditions, together with lack of dry-season stream flow, may cause serious ecological and economic problems for the country.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alam, M., 1972, Tectonic Classification of Bengal Basin. GeoL Soc. An Bull., 83 (2), 519–522
Alam, M., 1989, Geology and Depositional History of Cenozoic Sediments of the Bengal Basin of Bangladesh. Paleogeogr, Paleoecol., Paleoclimat.
Ali, S.I. and Hoq, S.,1990. International Sea-Level Rise: National Assessment of Effects and Possible Responses for Bangladesh. In: National Assessments of Sea-Level Rise Vulnerability, S.P. Leatherman (ed.). College Park, Center for Global Change, University of Maryland.
Bakthtine, M. I., 1986, Major Tectonic Features of Pakistan. Eastern Province. Science and Industries Pakistan 4 (2), 89–100.
Banerji, B.K., 1984, Post-Eocene Biofacies, Paleoenvironments and Paleogeography of the Bengal Basin, India. Palaeo., Palaeo., Palaeo., 45, 49–74.
Broadus, J., Milliman, J., Edwards, S., Aubrey, D., and Gable, E, 1986. Rising Sea Level andDamming of Rivers: Possible Effects in Egypt and Bangladesh In Effects of Changes in Stratosphereic Ozone and Global Climate, Vol 4, Sea-level Rise P 165–189, UNEP and USEPA.
Coleman, J. M., 1981. Deltas Processes of Deposition and Model for Exploration. Burgess Publishing Co., Minneapolis, USA, 125 p.
Costa, J. E., and Baker, V. R., 1981. Surficial Geology Building with the Earth, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
Curray, J. R., and Moore, G. D., 1971 Growth of Bengal Deep Sea Fan and Denudation of the Himalayas. Geol. Soc. America. Bull., 82, 563–572.
Curray, J. R., and Moore, G. D., 1974. Sedimentary and Tectonic Processes in the The Geology of Continental Margin, Springer-Verlag, New York, p. 617–627.
Gansser, A., 1983. Geology of the Bhutan Himalaya. Birkhuse-Verlag, Basel, 181 pp.
Graham, S. A., Dickinson, W. R., and Ingersoll, R. V., 1975. Himalyan-Bengal Model for Flysch Dispersal in the Appalachian-Ouchita System. Geol. Soc. Am. Bull., 86, 273–286.
Guha D. K., 1978. Tectonic Framework and Oil and Gas Prospects of Bangladesh. Bangladesh Geol. Soc. 4th Annual Conf. Proc. Dhaka, p. 65–76.
Hag, B.U. et al., 1987. Chronology of fluctuating sea level since the Triassic. Science, 235, 1156–1166.
Hoq, S., 1989. Land Reclamation from the Sea in Bangladesh. Coastal Zone’ 89, Proceedings of the Sixth Symposium on Coastal and Ocean Management, Washington, DC: American Society of Civil Engineers. p. 1602–1608.
Hogue, Monirul, Jabbar, M.A., Khan, Shamsuddin and Islam, Shaheedul, 1985. Land Accretion and land Reclamation of The Coastal Areas of Bangladesh in Development of Coastal Areas of Bangladesh, Bangladesh Planning Commission’s Report, p 17–23.
Huh, O. K., Ali, A., and Quadir, D. A., 1985. Use of NOAA Satellite AVHRR Data to Monitor River Flood Hydrology in Bangladesh, Project Sponsored by UNDP and FAO, Under the Applied Remote Sensing Project (Phase II) of SPARRSO (Bangladesh), Published by Coastal Studies Institute, Louisiana State Institute, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
Jones, P. H., 1985. Geology and Groundwater resources of Bangladesh. P.H. Jones Hydro-geology Inc., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, November, 1985.
Karim, Z, S. G. Hussain and M. Ahmed, 1990. Salinity Problems and Crop Intensification in The Coastal Region of Bangladesh, Soil and Irrigation Division, Bangladesh Agriculture Research Council.
Khan, M. A. Maroff, 1980. A Brief Account of Geology and Hydrocarbon Exploration in Bangladesh. Offshore South Asia Conf. February 1980, SEPEX Session, Epp. Khandoker, R. A., 1987. Origin of Elevated Barind-Madhupur Areas, Bengal Basin: Results of Neotectonic Activities. Bangladesh Jour. Geol., 6, 1–9.
Master Plan Organization (MPO), Bangladesh, 1986. National Water Plan. December 1986, Three Volumes. Ministry of Irrigation Water Development and Flood Control, Government of Bangladesh, Dhaka.
MPO, 1985. Geology of Bangladesh, MPO Technical Report No 4. Master Plan Organization. Ministry of Irrigation, Water Development and Flood Control, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Milliman,J.D., Broadus, J.M. and Gable, F., 1989. Environmental and Economic Implications of Rising Sea Level and Subsiding Deltas: the Nile and Bengal Examples. Ambio, 18, 340–345.
Milliman, John D., and Meade, Robert H., 1983. World-Wide Delivery of River Sediments to the Oceans. J. Geology, 91, 1–21.
Monsur, M.H., 1990. Stratigraphical and Palaeomagnetical Studies of some Quaternary Deposits of the Bengal Basin, Bangladesh, PhD Thesis (unpub.), Vrije University, Brussels, Belgium.
Morgan, J.P., and McIntire, W.G., 1959. Quaternary Geology of the Bengal Basin, East Pakistan and India, Geol Soc.. Amer. Bull., 70, 319–342.
Moshin-Uddin, Md., and Islam, S., 1982. Polder Development in Bangladesh Paper I: Past and Present Development. In: Polders of the World International Institute for Land Reclamation, Netherlands, p. 288–295.
Muhtab, F.Ú.,1989. Effect of Climate Change and Sea-level Rise on Bangladesh. Report prepared for the Commonwealth Expert Group on Climate Change and Sea-level Rise. Commonwealth Secretariat, London.
Nishat, A, and Hogue, M., 1985. Sedimentation in Coastal Areas of Bangladesh. Journal of the Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, 13 (2–3), 41–49.
Rasid H. and Paul, K.B.,1987. Flood Problems in Bangladesh: Is There an Indigenous Solution? Environmental Management, 11, 155–173.
Resources Analysis 1993. Assessment of the Vulnerability of Coastal Areas to Climatic Change and Sea-level Rise; A Pilot Study of Bangladesh, Final Report 2 Vols. Prepared for Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), by Resources Analysis, Bangladesh Centre for Advanced Studies and Approtech, Financed by Government of Bangladesh, Ministry of Environment and Government of The Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Rogers, P., Lydon, P. and Seckler, D., 1989. Eastern Water Study: Strategies to Manage Flood and Drought in the Ganges—Brahmaputra Basin. Prepared for US AID by the Irrigation Support Project for Asia and Far East, Washington D.C., 83 pp.
Salahuddin, M. M., 1991. Subsidence in Dhaka City. Unpublished Thesis, University of Dhaka, in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Degree of Master of Science in Geology.
Sengupta, S., 1966. Geological and geophysical studies in Western part of Bengal Basin, India. ., 50, 1001–1018.
Smedema, L. K., 1984. Land Reclamation on Chor Baggar Dona - Drainage and Salinity Investigation 1983–1984, BWDB Land Reclamation Project, Technical Report No. 21. Solomon, S.,1992. Floods in Bangladesh: Is There a Solution? Ecodecision, 6, 83–85.
Sorkhabi, R. B., and Stump, , 1993. Rise of the Himalaya: A Geochronologic Approach, GSA Today, 3, 85, 88–90.
Umitsu, M., 1985. Natural Levees and Landform Evolution in the Bengal Lowland. Geogr. Rev. Japan, 58, 149–164.
Umitsu, M.O., 1993. Late Quaternary Sedimentary Environments and landforms in Ganges Delta. Sediment. Geology, 83, 177–186.
Vishnu-Mittre and Gupta, H. P., 1970. Pollen Analytical Study of Quaternary Deposits in Bengal Basin., 19, 297–306.
WASA, 1991. Dhaka Regional Ground Water and Subsidence Model, Dhaka Water and Sewerage Authority, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
World Bank, 1989. Bangladesh Action Plan for Flood Control, Document of the World Bank, Asia Region Country Department I, World Bank, Washington. D.C., 91 pp.
Zaher, M. A., and Rahman, A. 1980. Prospects and Investigation for Minerals in the Northern Part of Bangladesh. Petroleum and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh, Seminar and Exhibition, Oct. 1980, Dhaka, p. 9–18.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1996 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Alam, M. (1996). Subsidence of the Ganges—Brahmaputra Delta of Bangladesh and Associated Drainage, Sedimentation and Salinity Problems. In: Milliman, J.D., Haq, B.U. (eds) Sea-Level Rise and Coastal Subsidence. Coastal Systems and Continental Margins, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8719-8_9
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-8719-8_9
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-4672-7
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-8719-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive