Bank erosion hazard is a frequent occurrence that poses threats to floodplain ecosystems. This analysis examined changes to the Jia Bharali River channel in India using the GIS-based Digital Shoreline Analysis System [DSAS]. The Jia Bharali’s future channel was predicted so as to identify the most erosion-susceptible zones. The rate of bankline movement was calculated using remotely sensed data collected over a period of 45 years (1976–2021). The results show that the river’s erosion and deposition rates were higher in the early years than towards the later part of the period under analysis. On the right and left banks of the river, the average shift rate was −9.22 and 5.8 m/y, respectively, which is comparatively high. The chosen portion of the river was evenly divided into three zones, A, B, and C. The most positively affected zone was zone A. The left bank of zone B exhibited a higher rate of erosion than the right bank, indicating that the river was moving to the left [eastward] in this zone. At the same time, the right bank was being eroded faster than the left, indicating a westward thrust at zone C. The predicted result demonstrates that the left bank of zone B and the right bank of zone C would have a higher average migration rate. Therefore, these banks were identified as being the most susceptible to bank erosion. The study evaluates the spatio-temporal change of the river in sensitive regions where neighboring settlements and infrastructure were at risk of changing channel dynamics. Using the actual and forecasted bankline, the degree of accuracy was confirmed. The results of the automated prediction approach could be useful for river hazard management in the Jia Bharali and in similar environmental settings with tropical high precipitation zones.

A common phenomenon associated with the alluvial river is its meandering action which leads to lateral migration and thus geomorphic hazards. Predicting and preventing this migration is both difficult and necessary. Barak river is one of the highly meandering rivers flowing through the alluvial plains of Assam, India. It is observed that there is a regular shifting of the river banks and development of cutoffs which create uncertainty to the people residing nearby. Therefore, in this study planform geometry and migration behaviour of the Barak river is examined considering 12 representative meandering reaches using multiperiod Landsat remote sensing images, field investigations of channel bed and bank properties and riparian vegetation cover. An attempt is made to describe and evaluate the empirical approach and time sequence extrapolation method to predict channel migration. Channel wavelength to channel width ratio ranges between 5.53 to 12.9, and the bend curvature ranges between 1.1 to 3.93. Rate of river migration varies between 0.54to 85.69 m/year. Sinuosity in most of the meandering reaches is greater than 1.5. Results show that lack of significant riparian vegetative cover, high precipitation and presence of fine sands with very low clay content are probably the main elements responsible for the planform changes. The results of the prediction of meander migration obtained from selected empirical methods show that only Nanson and Hickin method shows a moderate correlation with R² =0.50. Time sequence extrapolation method was used to predict the radius of the best-fit circle for the year 2025 and 2030. Results of the time sequence extrapolation method indicate that the maximum and minimum radius of the best circle fit for the year 2025 is 1254m at reach-8 and 462m at reach-7 respectively, and maximum and minimum radius of the best circle fit for the year 2030 is 1319m at reach-8 and 387m at reach-12 respectively. It is believed that the outcomes of this study could form a base in river training works and in understanding and predicting the future dynamics and bank migration of this alluvial river and other river of similar geomorphic setting.

Alluvial rivers all over the world have one common problem, which is their meandering pattern. This meander formation is because of natural and anthropogenic processes. Barak River is dynamic, and due to this, it is exposed to regular shifting and creates many problems for the people who reside near the river. The livelihood of many people depends on agriculture, which they conduct on the nearby sides of the river. However, the regular shifting of riverbanks makes their life miserable and leads to severe economic losses. Further, roadways and railways run along the banks of the Barak River, and during monsoon, Assam (Silchar), along with three states, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura, become disconnected from the rest of India because the road and rail connections fail due to riverbank erosion. Therefore, considering the catchment area and the importance of this river, we have tried to understand the spatiotemporal changes (erosion, deposition, and unchanged area) in the Barak River. From our analysis, we found that the maximum and minimum amount of erosion occurred from 2012–2017 and 2002–2012 and were 727.56 ha and 332.69 ha, respectively. While the highest amount of deposition that occurred during 1984–2017 was 1054.21 ha, the minimum amount of deposition that occurred during 2012–2017 was 351.32. Overall, it was identified that the area under the deposition was more dynamic than the erosion from 1984–2017. Moreover, from the temporal analysis of land use/land cover from 1984–2017, it was found that the area that comes under the settlement and arable land has increased by 10.47% and 5.05%, respectively. The dynamic factors, such as the nature of channel gradient, land use/land cover, and riparian vegetative cover, could be the probable driving forces that cause changes in the erosional and depositional areas. This study will help us understand the dynamics of the Barak River and other rivers of this type worldwide. This study shall help implement strategies that will help manage bank erosion by adapting scientific bank protection measures.

In northeast India, Barak river is among one of the principal rivers, which is highly meandering in nature in its flood plain area. For infrastructural development and river protection works, it is essential to know the behavior of banklines shifting on landuse and landcover changes. This study is to evaluate the impact of bank lines shifting on land use and land cover changes. In order to fulfill the purpose of the present study 12 reaches with 41 cross-sections have been selected. The whole work has been done with the help of RS and GIS techniques using Landsat images and hybrid classification for the landuse and landcover classification. The result of the study shows that in the upper reach of the alluvial plain, there is an active shifting. Also, it is observed that at the lower reach, the river has moved in both north and south direction. It is observed that maximum migration rate is 130.2 m/year with a mean migration rate (9.43 m/year). The sinuosity estimated for the same reach with 12 bends is in the range 1.24–3.89. Among all the sections, the minimum and maximum changes of width are 0.26m and 249.93m respectively with an average value of 84.51m. It is found that the Barak river can be classified into sinuous channel (1.05 to 1.5), as well as meandering channel (>1.5). The investigation of changes in the pattern of land use land cover (LULC) of the Barak basin over 33 year’s period (1984–2017) shows that urban/built-up and agricultural land was increased gradually, e.g., urban increased by 40.6% for 1984–1992, 72.14% for 2002–2012, 180.15% for 1984–2017. While, agricultural land increased by 18.9% for 1984–1992, 41.15% for 1992–2002 and 93.20% for 1984–2017. In addition water bodies increased by 19% and 41.73% from 1984–1992 and 1984–2017 respectively. In contrast, dense vegetation decreased by 5.6% for 1984–1992 and 21.77% for 2002–2012 and 39.14% for 1984–2017. Open vegetation showed a decreasing trend by 11.1% for 1984–1992, 26.83% for 1992–2002, and 36.27% for 1984–2017. Rapid population growth, migration of rural people to urban, unawareness of biophysical limitations and poverty are some of the probable reasons behind the changes in the LULC. The results of the hybrid classification of the LULC of the Barak River for the Landsat 1(1984; MSS), Landsat 2 (1992; TM), Landsat 5 (2002; TM), Landsat 7(2012; ETM⁺) and Landsat 8(2017; OLI) showed overall classification accuracy of 90.83%, 86.67%, 90.56%, 93.33% and 86.11% with overall kappa statistics of 0.8900, 0.8400, 0.8867, 0.9200 and 0.8333 respectively. The channel migration directly affects the land use and land use change and has direct effect on the flood plain dwellers of the study area. All the assessments of this study highlight a significant message of immense vulnerability of the Barak river and also provide news about geomorpho-logical instabilities of the study area