New Delhi. Kosi river, which is called the grief of Bihar, is notorious for changing its direction. Now, shocking revelations have been made about the holy Ganga. The team of researchers, while revealing the shocking research, said that the Ganga river changed its direction about 2500 years ago. A team of scientists has made this revelation on the basis of facts and assessment. A new research has claimed that the main route of the Ganga river might have suddenly changed due to an earthquake that occurred 2500 years ago.
Researchers say that a 7-8 magnitude earthquake probably changed the main route of the river, which is currently in earthquake-prone Bangladesh. However, there is no written record of this earthquake. Michael Steckler, a geophysicist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia Climate School in the US and co-author of the study, said, “I don’t think we have ever seen such a big earthquake anywhere.” Steckler further said, “It was so impressive that it could easily submerge anyone at the wrong time and in the wrong place.” This study has been published in the journal ‘Nature Communications’.
change in the course of rivers
The Ganges river, which originates from the Himalayas, finally merges with other major rivers including the Brahmaputra and the Meghna into the Bay of Bengal. After the Amazon, these rivers form the world’s second largest river system. Scientists around the world call the change in the course of a river an avulsion. Earthquakes have been documented as the reason for the change in the course of many rivers. Like other rivers flowing through major bays, the Ganges also changes its course regularly. Steckler said that rivers may take years or decades to change their course, but earthquakes can suddenly change the course of a river.
sand and clay
Elizabeth L. Chamberlain, assistant professor at Wageningen University in the Netherlands and lead author of the research, said that this study is the first concrete example of the division of the bay into several parts due to an earthquake, especially for a large river like the Ganges. The team of researchers used satellite images to trace the old route of the river about 100 kilometers south of Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh. It is a low-lying area about 1.5 kilometers wide, which was found for about 100 kilometers parallel to the current route of the river. He said that due to being filled with mud, this area is often affected by floods and is mainly used for rice cultivation. While exploring this area in the year 2018, the researchers saw structures made due to earthquakes, which are called seismites. According to him, many such structures have been built at the same time and chemical analysis of sand and soil suggests that an earthquake of 7-8 magnitude occurred in this area about 2,500 years ago.
Tags: Ganga river, National News
FIRST PUBLISHED : June 18, 2024, 19:09 IST