CHAPTER I I
CHAPTER - II
DABHOL CREEK
PHYSICAL SETTING :
Dabhol creek is a-tidal mouth of river Vashishthi
which is an important river of Maharashtra
( Fig. 2.1 ). The Vashishthi river basin is drained
by major feeder's like Jagbudi, Korjoi along
with Vashishthi. It roughly extends from
17° 22' N to 17° 52' N and 73°. 10' E to
73° 45' E. The total -area of the basin is
2242 sq. km... Tiiw! total length of Vashishthi
river is 48 km of which 30 km is tidal in
nature ( Fig. 2.2 ). These low reaches of
Vashishthi river help in inland navigation
upto distance of 30 km.. . inside the creek.
The basin suffers from many natural hazards
like heavy rains and uabating flood.
Excessive soil erosion in the eastern
hilly terrain of the basin, seisemisity
induced by hydel dam at Koynanagar: are some
other major problems of the basin. In
aadition to these silting of the estuarine
20
LOCATION MAP
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22
channel and the flooding of the lower reaches
is a- major environmental problems in • this
area. The large supply of sediment by river
Vashishthi has resulted in the development of
a narrow offshare bar. This bar has probably
formed since l88o ( Gazetter of Maharashtra ).
It however appears that it is not subjected
to a very rapid growth .and development as
its present day size is not very large.
It has been pointed out by many studies
( Karlekar et al 1987, CWPRS Preliminary Survey )
that the flooding of the low reaches is
mainly a result of silting & the formation of
the shallow bar at the entrance of the
creek, roughly at a distance of 2.5 km .
from Dabhol port. This bar has also
restricted the navigational advantage of
comparitively deep depth available inside the
creek. Dabhol port is situated on the northern
bank of the creek 2 km inside the entrance.
The water depths of the . order of 15 to 20
metres are available inside the creek. Due to
this the navigation of vessels having 3 m
depth is possible even upto a distance of
23
30 km inside the creek at all tidal stages.
The inland navigation is however severely
restricted due to the sand bar at the
entrance of the creek.
The gazetteer of India published in 1880
describes the river mouth at Dabhol as
follows " The river mouth, about a mile broad,
is 3 narrowed by a sand bank that from the
north runs within two cables length of the
south shore where on the edge of a plateau
300 feet high is the ancient temple of
Tolkeshwar. Before the commencement of the
southwest monsoon winds the river bed at the
mouth of the river has a depth enough to
allow . big vessels up the river. But during
rainy season due to powerful winds , sand in
the river bed accumulates to form a sand bar
across the mouth of the river. Rushing waves
make the water rise over the bund and a
roaring sound is made.
On the bar at low tide are ten feet of
water, with, at springs a rise of ten feet.
From its exposed position there is generally a
24
TABLE 1 : Basic Data on Dabhol Creek.
1. Width of the tidal mouth-2km at the entrance.
2. Location of Da"bhol port - 2 km inside the entrance on
the northern Bank.
3. Available water depth inside the creek -15 metres.
4. Height of the northern headland - 90 metres.
5. Height of the southern headland - 85 metres.
6. Length of churpulti sand=^=6 Km
7. Width of churpulti sand - 0.5 to 1.5 Km
8. Location of offshore bar - 1.5 Km southwest of
churpulti sand.
9. Depth of water over offshore bar - 2.3 metres.
[Link] height 2 to 4 metres.
[Link] range - 1.43 to 2.82 metres.
[Link] of tidal wave - ^0 Km inland.
[Link] velocity of littoral currents - 50 cm/sec.
[Link] flood tide discharge - 31^5 m^/sec.
[Link] ebb tide discharge - 6125 m-Vsec.
25
swell. The port gives good anchorage during
fair weather to vessels passing to and from
Chiplun."
The tidal mouth of Vashishthi river is
15 km long and has a maximum width of 2
km at its entrance. It is bounded by
headlands on north as well as south. The
northern headland has a height of 90 m- The
headland on the north has recessed considerably
and is occupied by a wide patch of sand
called churpulti sand at its foot. The
southern headland has a height of 85 m and is
known as Tolkeshwar plateau.(Table 1)
GEOLOGY
The area along the upper reaches of
Vashishthi basin is covered by thick series
of basaltic lava flows, popularly known as
Deccan Traps (Fig. 2.3)• These basalts are well
joined and are massive in nature. The areas
along the lower reaches of the stream,
especially to the west of Chiplun are covered
by 2 to 10 meter thick lateritic formations.
These laterites are believed to be of late
26
27
Tertiary or early Pleistocene period. • The
alluvial deposits occur along the major river
and tributojy streams (Karlekar et al 1982).
Littorol deposits of sand and silt occur
along the shore. They have produced sand bars
and beaches in protected areas, smaller bays
and inlets along the coast and inside the
creek.
TECTONIC FRAMEWORK
The catchment of river Vashishthi is
known to be earthquake prone and is
experiencing tremors due to reservoir induced
seismisity resulting from Koyna reservoir (Guha
et al 197^). The hill slope instability in
the region is basically a result of this
seismic activity. The large scale land sliding
especially in the ghat zone is in response
to the hillslope instability. Landslides and
blowouts have been reported in the area
following major seismic activity in 1977-
Similarly in 1983 intense precipition was
responsible for tregering landslide on a large
scale by encouraging slope instability.
28
BED LEVEL PROFILE OF VASHISHTHI RIVER
r800
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•600 ,»-
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in
•400^
i— !
x
o
UJ
CONCAVITY INDEX = 1-41 / IE
•200
0 16 32 48 64
DISTANCE FROM MOUTH IN KM.
FIG. 2.4
29
LONG PROFILE
The longitudinal profile of river
Vashishthi is excessively concave with a
concavity index of 1.4l (Fig. 2.4). The
concavity index is used to describe the
profile form which is a result of all the
influences such as tectonic history of the
region, sea level change and climatic change.
The excessively concave profile of river
Vashishthi is suggestive of heavy estuarine
siltation in quaternary flandrian period
(Richards K. 1982).
GEOMORPHOLOGY
The photo geomorphic map of the area
around creek (Fig. 2.5) shows the existance of
an offshore bar at the entrance of the river.
The bar is more or less orthogonal to the
mouth of the creek. The raised shore
plateforms and the old seacliffs along the
northern headland in all probability indicate
previous higher sea levels. • That the • sea
level is regressing is quiet evident from the
shore plateforms and the huge expanses of
30
PHOTO GEOMORPHIC MAP
Index:
mm -»"< I V V V I CONVEX SLOPE \X 1 U | TRIO POINT METRES
f~—* 1 LOW WATER LIKE MODERN SAHO | A A/\| CONCAVE SLOPE RREAX OF SLOPE
ti-'Ir'-'yH SUBMEB5E0 SAHOR1DSE [ j V ^| SWA"''5 I | > I CONCAVE SLOPE UNIT 1 CASURlnA
1
PLAHIATJO*
CONVEX SLOPE UNIT
RAISED BENCH
5 SEA CLIFFS ANO
WAVE CUT PLATFORM
T-j VALLEI FLATS
FORESTED SLOPE Vf f | FOREST ISCAITERFUI \f j j | BREAKERS
(Based on Karlekar et al- 1987J
FIG. 2.5
31
sand bodering the littoral (Karlekar .et al
1987). The excessive concavity of the profile
is probably a result of •rapid silt deposition
in the estuarine area after the slight
lowering of sea level.
The study area is humid with an average
annual humidity of 75 %•• The maximum
temperature in the region seldom excessed 35°C
near the coast. Monsoon starts generally by
the first week of June and the rains continue
with little intermission till the middle of
October. The rainfall increases from the coast
to the ghats. The average annual rainfall for
the catchment as a whole is 3000 mm About 90%
of the total rainfall is received between
June and September. In July the amount" and
intensity of rainfall is maximum. The dry
spells occur intermittantly throughout the
rainy season especially in September. On some
occations such as in 1966 and in 1983 storms
and heavy showers have caused considerable
damage in the coastal region.
The siltation is a conspicuous feature
in the lower estuarine reaches of the river.
32
MAGNITUDE OF EROSION IN MONSOON IN
VASHISHTHI BASIN
33
The excessive sediment supply through the
river is a result of disturbed environmental
equillibrium. In order to roughly estimate the
sediment [Link], the silt . concentration data'
was employed by Karlekar et al (1987) for a
few stations from • the catchment area (Fig.
2.6). The analyses • reveaJ^JE^that the total
silt load in the catchment, vales from 2.22 X
12 13 «& If *!
10 to 7.23 X 10 • kg/Iq*km*. an/ -is relatively
higher in the eastern part of the catchment.
It seems apparent from this study that the
northern hill slopes are eroding more as
compared to southern hillslopes. The
development of an offshore bar near Dabhol is
a strong evidence of the disturbance in the
ecosystem of the basin. The historical evidence
also suggest that in last' 200 yrs wide- spread
siltation at the entrance of the creek has
prevented navigation upto Chiplun.
CHURPULTI SAND BAR
Churpulti sand is a huge shoal. It is
sumerged at all stages of tides. It is an
elongated sand bar oriented normal to the
shoreline. It has length of 6 km and a
34
width that • varies from 500 to 1500 metres from
east to west. The shoal shows a fixed northeast-
southwest orientation with respect to shoreline
but changes considerably in its east-west
extent. The littoral material is being added to
the shoal from the north constantly. This has
resulted into the raising of the shoal even
above the high water mark especially to its
east. The land so formed is recently covered
by casurina plantantion for protection against
the possible erosion since 1978 (Fig. 2.5).
In addition to this shoal a shallow sand
bar is, also formed in front of the creek
entrance roughly 1.5 km southwest from the tip
of churpulti sand. This bar is identified at a
depth of 2.3 m from the mean sea level or
chart datum. This bar plays an important role
in reduction of navigation facilities at Dabhol
port, therefore it was considered important to
study the morphology, sedimentology and the
periodic changes, that might be taking place in
this bar as well as the shoal of churpulti
sand.
35
This work on morphology and formation of
bar at the entrance of Dabhol creek tries to
give a complete analysis of the situation and
predict future- trends in the changes and
development of these bars near Dabhol.
(B) DATA ACQUISITION AND METHODOLOGY
The river mouth bars of this type are
usually produced due to river sediment discharge
and a typical wave and tide environment
(Mikhiailov V.N. 1972, Bajorunas L. 1972 and Duane
D.B. 1972). The form and the dimension of these
bars is affected by the movement and deposition
of sediments in and around the area. It is
therefore essential to study all those factors
which are responsible for the movement and
deposition of material along with the source of'
the sediments. Keeping this in mind a specific
method of collection of data, the measurements
and the observation was adopted. The survey
charts published by hydrographic survey
department were used for the comparison of
depth contours at the entrance of the creek
from 1969-1988. A survey of India (SOI)
topographical sheet on the scale of 1 : 50?000
36
was used to study the terrain features in the
area. In addition to these} the data regarding
tidal levels and tidal currents was obtained
from CWPRS at Khadakwasla, Pune.
The information on the wave climate and
tidal hydraulics was collected in the field.
It consisted of the measurement• of wave period,
wave heights, littoral drift, tidal currents ,
there velocity and direction etc. The water
samples were collected from 17 different places
from the entrance of the creek to 15 km
inland. The water samples were analysed to
•a
know the P , salinity, oxidation reduction
potential (ORP) and suspended material. Bed
sediment samples were also collected from 5
places to know the nature and size of
sediments deposited in the creek. Bed samples
collected and analysed by CWPRS for 38 sites on
bed were also considered. The rate of
sedimentation was computed by using McCave's
equation. ( 1970).
Re = CbW X 10~3 mgcm-2sec-1
(Where Cb= suspended sediment concentration in PPM of
settling velocity W cm sec -1 ).
37
The study of outflow processes, sediment
transport and deposition consisted of the
analysis of all these data. The river plume
development at the mouth was studied by visual
observations made through a full tidal cycle in
fair'-.- weather season, considering the foamlines,
debris lines, turbidity and colour of the
outflow, as suggested by Van Alphen et al (1988). '
A photomap of the field site was prepared
from an areal photograph (Non-stereoscopic)
enlargement to a scale of 1 : 25000. This
photograph was taken in 1981 by National Remote
Sensing Agency. The computer analysis, trend
surface analysis and analysis of preferred
orientation was carried out for different seasons
to know the changes in the configuration of-
off-shore bar and the churpulti sand. The
information regarding the navigation facilities in
the area, the change in fish catch, nature . of
flooding in ' the lower reaches and the changes
that are taking place on churpulti sand was
also supplemented by the interviews of local
people.
38