Riverbed mining as a threat to in-stream agricultural floodplain and biodiversity of Ganges River, India

Growth of urbanization, infrastructural and economic development activities in the last few decades all over the world have increased the demand of riverbed material for construction purposes. This high demand of materials has resulted in unsystematic and unscientific mining in in-stream and floodplain and agricultural area of the river basin and has caused severe damage in Chapter contents Introduction .................................................................................................................... 251 Materials and methods ...................................................................................................... 252 Study area ................................................................................................................... 252 Methodology for in-stream mining area ............................................................................ 253 Physico-chemical analysis of surface water ........................................................................ 253 Methodology for floodplain mining area ........................................................................... 253 Statistical analysis of the data .......................................................................................... 254 Results and discussion ...................................................................................................... 254 Channel morphology ..................................................................................................... 254 Physiographical parameters ............................................................................................ 255 Water quality parameters ............................................................................................... 256 Fish fauna ................................................................................................................... 257 Riparian vegetation ....................................................................................................... 260 Agriculture .................................................................................................................. 260 Conclusion and recommendations ....................................................................................... 260 References ...................................................................................................................... 262