CHAPTE~ II

THE GODAVARI BASIN

THE GODAVARI BASIN 31

The Godavari river, also ~10wn as Dakshin Ganga,

is th e second largest in Indian river ba sins after Ganga

with 12 per cent of drainage basin area of the country

(Table- 4)., The river is identified with many

historical, cultural and I:1ytholoc,;icQ.1 events of southern

and Central India. Many temples are located on the banks

of Godavari. Some of these temples such as Nasik,

Kaleshwaram, Bhadrachalam, Rajahamundry are very prominent

'pilgrinQge centres.

The river originates near Nasik (Maharastra) and

travels 1,465 kilometers(km)through the states of

Ivlaharastra; Hadhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, K::::.rnataka and

Orissa to enter the Bay of Bengal. The total drainage

basin area in t:les0 states is 49.42; 29.40; 23.57; 1.45

and 5.20 percent respectively ('.Co.ble - 51\). The

Gcxiavari rfver has basin area of 313, 147 sq.krn. ex"tenLmg

between Latti tude 160 .0 'N to i8°.0 I N 3nd

to 83°.30E Godavari river, apart from many small streams, "

has four main tributaries mamely the Pranahi ta, Hanjeera)

Indravati and Sabari with 32.1 10.0 ; 13.36 ; and 6.4

percentages of catchment area, rGspectively(Table - 5 _"l

and 5 B ) ') The Pranahi ta has t\'fO big tributaries namely

WaingarCga and Penganga with 17.3 and 1405 percen'"'cage of

total Godavari basin area.

Table 7'~,

** Hydrological Charecterstics of Ma,ior River Basins of India,,_

- - ----r station ... - - ...

River

......... -Ganges Farakka

Brahmaputra Pandu -)Eo

Godavari Rajahamundry

Krishna Vijayawada

Mahanadi Kairundi

Narmada Ankleswar

Tapti Baroach

Cauvery Trichy

India

970

690

313

250

132

90

62

87

3 11 900

493

510

92

67

67

40

17

21

1,700

154

148

181

318

155

322

322

400

159

1631

1170

1845

167

30.5

130

333

34

1,000

3000

5000

420

420

500

760

740

630

1,000

Bay of Bengal

-do-

-do-

-do-

-do-

Arabian Sea

-do-

Bay of Bengal

_____ .d _______________________________________________________________ _

** Subramanian (1978 9 1979, 1983, 1984); * Present Study.

W N

Table -·'5 A.

Godavari basin : State-wise distribution of Catchment Area.

Area : Thousand Sq" Km.

- - - - - ] ~a~a:a~t:al - - - - 1 - - - - .. - - - ... - -.- - -J -T:~l- ] -Tributary Madhya Andhra Orissa Karnataka Pradesh Pradesh . - -- - - - - - - .J. - - - - - - - - - - - - - .. , --- - - -

Pranahita 70.6 28.9 1.1 100 0 6

Manjeera 16 .. 8 10.1 4.6 31.5

Indravati 6.0 28.9 6.9 41.8

Sabari 6.1 4.5 9.4 20.0

Godavari 61.3 5708 119,,1

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - .. - - - - - -Total 154 .. 7 63 .. 9 7305 16.3 4,.6 313.0 - - - - - .~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- - .... - -Percentage * 49.9 20.4 23,,57 5.2 1045 100.0

Figures are rounded to one digit after decimal. % Percentage of area of the tributary on total basin area.

* Percentage of the Godavari basin area lies in each.

- -% - .-32.1

10.0

13.4

6 .. 4

38 0 1

... -100.0 - ...

- - ---

.., ""

- -

-

--

W eN

Table -5 B. - -Godavari Basin : Distribution of Rock types.

~:e~ - - - rG;a~ite~ ;nct Sedi;e~t: 1 De~c~n- _' IHard Rocks ary rocks Traps I - - ~ - ~ - - - ~ - - ~ ~ - - - ~ -- - - - -Pranahita

Manjeera

Indravati

Sabari

* Godavari

Total Basin 96

39.0 (38.8)

1.1 (23.5)

33.5 (80.0)

23.8 (20.1)

122.2 (38.7)

2.6 (2.6)

--

2.5 (13.6)

22.9 (19.2)

36.4 (11.0)

59.0 (58.6)

24.1 (76.5)

--

149,,4 (47.7)

Area : Thousand SqoKm.

Recent

6.1 (5.1 )

6 .. 1 (2.0)

Total basin .area

100.6 (32.1)

31.5 (10.0)

41.8 (13.4).

20.0 ( 6.4)

119.1 (38.0)

313.0 (100.0)

Notes: The figures are in thousand sq.km. except the elevation.

443

562

490

580

420

The figures given in brackets percentage each rock type of the tributary 0

* Main Godavari not covered by tributaries"

35

The Godavari river discharr.:;es 2923 m3(92 '1~n3 /yr)

of water into the Bay of Bengal(Table-Lj.). This equaJs to

one fourth of Ganges(Rao, 1975) and 1.7 percent of world's

largest river, A,':Jazon(Gibbs 1 1967). The hydrological

aspects of the Godavari river basin has been discussicn in

the followine chapters, based on the hydrological data e

GEOLCG-Y OF THE Gr)DAVARI BASIN : - (fhe GC.)lo 'y of· the -,.. .... - --

Godavari river basin area was first studied anJ reported by

King( 1881). Aftervrards a team of officers fro:l! erst'.'rhile

Hyderabad Geolo~ical Survey of India have studi0s soge parts

of the basin. This work I'las sUITll.1C1rtscd by IIcron(·10l~9).

La ter, many workers frolil the Geological Survey of India

carried out detailed geolo~tc31 studies on c0veral Dart of

Srinivas Rao, 1975; Srinivas Rao (~t .0.1., 1?7:J; SaJ:1bs.siva

sllarr.m, 1979; Nandil{esh2.va Rao, 1976 etc.).

The Geoloc;y of the Godavari basin can broac.ly be

indentified in three super groups namely Archaeans,

Cuddapahs(Pal{hals)and the Gondv!anas ,,,hich are overlain by

the Deccan traps. The alluvial deposits and soil covers

ar~ qui te comr;1On t~roughout the basin. The stratigraphic

succession of different rock uni ts ex~)osed along the section

line indicated in Fig 2.1 is given below:

This section covers all important rock types except some

rock tyPes such as l{hondali tes which are insigniflcant

36

in terms of the present study ( Fig. 2.1 ).

Since, the present study on the Godavari basin

is of '. broad nature the minor g0010gical deta;Lls of

the above mentioned vlOrks have not been strictly taken

into consideration o Therefore~ a very generalised picture

of basin geology has been presented in Fig. 2.1):

Brief description of each geological group and its rock

tyPes have also been given.

ARCP.AEANS : - The archenns are the basemen ~ for

the entire Godavari valley and are represented by

Peninsular geisses. The litilOlo~W com~)rises p.tnk and

grey granites, banded ferruc;inous qU.:J.rtzi tes, r;nei.SE:i,::S,

migmati teJ

crystalline me13neti te quar~-zite nncl

intruded by doleri t.e dytes. The i:!1~orta~'lt r:1inerc.~s.

are quartz, feldslJar and biotite \lit~: '::;2.rnct, a:.~:Dhibo~es,

chlorite and epidote as minor minerals. These gneissic

cO:!1plex are intruded by dolerite dYKes, quartz, quartz-e:;:Ldote

and pegMatite veins. The biotite gneiSS have N~ - SE

are massive with no toliatiaDs.

ALLUVIAL

DECCAN TRAP S

SUPER GROUP

( 4.0 1\111 )

•

PAKH.~L

SUPER GROUP

( 6.7 km ).

PENINSULAR

GNEISS

37

The stratigraphic .. succession

: Alluvial and Soil covers.

Basalts, intertrapion beds etc.

Upper Kota Sandstone Gondwana Group(0.2) Fault contact---

Lower Gondwana Group (3.8 h:m)

Kamthi Sandstone

Barakar Sandstone

Talchir ~oulder Bed

----- Unconformity --- Fault contact -----

Sullavai Sandstone

Group ( 1.0km) --- Unconformity partly faulted ---

Hulug Group ,( 3. Olan)

Hallama palle Group (2.7km)

Shale~ Dolomite, Arkose, Conglomerate, Othoquartzitc,

---Disconformi ty---

Shale, Conzlomerate, Dolomite. Shes.

Nonconformity---

Pink and grey granites g banded

~erruginous quartzites, gneissic

migmatites and dolerite dyke

intrusious.

( After Srinivas Rao, et. ale 1975 )

78 80 82 84

GODAVARI RIVER BASIN GEOLOGICAL MAP

0 RECENT ALLUVIUM

BJ DECAN TRAPS 22

lliil1iB UPPER GONDAWANA LOWER

~ CUDDAPAH SUPER GROUP

~ KHONDALITES

0 " . CHARNOCKlTES

m .. GRANITE GNEISS

~ ...... , .. ARCHEA,'S 20

18

250 Km

16

84

Fig.2·1A.

w ('X)

39 pAKP~L SUPER GROUP:- The pakhal series named by

King(1981) which has been later considered as P~khal Super

Group(Subba Raju and Srinivas Rae, 1974)col'\.Slstsrofr-Iallampalli,

lVIulugu and Sullavari groups. The n;."'l.mes of these 6roups vary

from pJ.a ce to place. A brief description of the important

rock types of this super group are given belm-, :-

The Pakhal Su~er group has been correlated with

Cuddapah is underlain by the .A.rchnean granites and gneisses.

These forma ti ons consi st of ba~~nl c onc;lomora tr.:s ::l.ncl c~.~loni tes in

lower part, dolomites, orthoquartzites and shales in middle

and sandstones on the top. Total thickness of these three

groups is about 6.5 km. in the centre of the re sin.

The r1ulu group i.$ correlated to the Pengang

group conSisting of quartzites,shales and limestones, in the

north western part of the basino

Q..oNDWANA SuPER GROUP: 'rhe Gondwana Super Group

rocks occup~ a major part of the Godavari valley sedimentary

rock formation with a width of about 70 km. near Nancherial.

In the Godavari river the upper Gondwana is represented by

Talchi~ Boulder Bed, Barakar sandstones and Kamthi sandstones

~nd upper Gondwana comprising Maleri formation, Kota sandstones

and Chikiala sandstone. The total thickness of Gondwana sand­

stones in the basin -is around 3.5 to it.O 1-;:)":;.

40 The regional strike of the Gondwana rocks is N'Y'I-SE

with north easterly dips between 8 0 - 12 0. Two set of

vertical joints trending Nvl-SE and NE-SVl and t,,·!O sets of faults

(along and across the strike of the velley are noticed~

A bri:::,f discriptionv

of each rock formation of Gond\'lana super

group is as follows :-

UPPER '~OND':1ANA Gii.OUP : - The upper Gond"Jana group consists

of Maleri formations, Kota sandstones and Chlakila sandstones.

General strike of upper Gond,vana are NW - SEo

The I'IIaleri formation:- These formation. comprises

predominantly red clays and subordinate white, green,

yello"l clayso The calcareous pellets and pieces of calcified \

fossil wood are also common in these formation~o

li£ta Sand~stones :- Kota sandstones conprises thick

sequence of sandstone with number of inter beds of conglomerate

and silty clay and a single prominent inter bed of lirr.estone.

£hikiala sandstones:- The Chikiala formation is

represented by white, brown and maroon coloured, medium to

coarse grained matrix rich friable sand stones. The typical

maroon colour is the distin:ctcharact~risticof these sand

stones 0

LOltlER GCNUdAi"JA GROUP : _ This group includes Talchir

boulder beds, barkar sand stones,Kamthi sandstones. Strike

41

of the .10i'ler Gondwana formations area from N'Y'i-SE to NNl'l to

SSE dipping 10 0 to 20 0 north east.

Talchir boulder beds:- These boulder beds are

exposed around Mancherial. The boulder beds consists

of boulder and pebbles of variety rocks types like

dolomites, granites, sandstones, vein quartz etc.

Barakar sandstone.9 : - These sandstones are \·,11i te

to yellowish vl11i te, very coarse grained felspathic and

gritty \V.ith cacarious and ferruginous nodules. fhe coal

mining in this area is confined to these formations.

Kamthi Sandst~ : - These sandstones are w:nite

to bro1tffi in colour, coarse grained thick bedded sandstones

\",i th clay matrix and clay chistand on the top.

DECCAN TRAP;;:> : Deccan traps occupy 48% of the Godavari river

basin. These volconic rocks are resultants of series of

lava flows. In the western most part of the basin "where

the river originated, the Deccan traps have about 3, ~')OO

to 4,000 meters and gradually decreasing to few meters

towards north and southeast. The individual thickness of

the flow is '10 to 25 meterso At some places as many as

29 distinct flows have been indentified in the bore hole

42

inter sections. These fIovlS have maintained the perfect

horizontality throughout their wide areal distribution.

The most common rock of the deccan traps is augite basalt.

The rock is often vesicular with secondary fillings of

calcite, quartz and zeolites o Olivin :, Plagioclase

feldspars and a·ngi te are important minerals and calci te,

quartz, g~lconi te , zeolites and apa ti te as acces sory minerals

A unique columnar joint pattern is seen in these basalts.

The ~eccan traps have distinct spheroidal weathering pattern.

The vesicular texture joint pattern etc. are

favourable for physical &. chemical weathering.

PEPOSITION HISTORY:- The deposition history of

Godavari basin's sedimentary rocks \'lere studied by Srini vas

Rao et ale (1976) of Geological Survey of India. This study

has concluded that pakhals and Gondwana sediments were laid

dovm in succes si vely developed NW-SE trending block faulted

throughs. Four periods of rift activity has been correlated

with successive evolution of palmals(IViallampalli, r-Iulug,

Sullavai) and Gondwana(lmver and upper) sedimentary !'ocks.

The activity of rift was initiated dur:Ln0 the Pre-pakhals

along the N~'l-SE zone of weakn.ess inherited from Dllarwarian

trend of Archaean basement.{ ~i'. 2. Ie,)

TECTONIC EVOLUTION OF THE GODAVARI GRABEN A SCHEMATIC REPRESENTATION

Ul'pelt K4 0 I'/oWANA<j , 1iI1I£IN

I+' LowEl\/OolU) wANm eo A S II-I

~ .5VL'-AVlll (lIlJIN -,.t

---'NE

------------------------------------------~ Fig. 2'18 1 Fro m Sri n i vas a Roo . e t. a l., (1916)

43

44 The evidences for presuming such rift activities are :-

(a) Parallelism between regional trends of major

geological units.

(b) repi ti ti ve OCcurrence- of geological units on

eighter side of the basin.

(c) faulted nature of ~eological contacts, and

(d) presence of four conspicous lineaments(indentified

from land sat imagery).

Therefore', the distribution pattern of sedimentary

rocks over the basin are net re suIt of the four different

episodes of sedimentation in block faulted troughs modified

by sub-sequent deformations,uplifts and erosion.

HUIvlAN ACTIVITI : - The Godavari basin is one of the

thickly popula tedr! ver basins l'ii th intense human acti vi ty.

population The exact populatl' nvn ; ,.-l'lQbl' t· .Loll. a. _ lnt::;.

in the basin area is not known. Apart from thousands of

small villages, minor town some . important ci ties/big t·own

ship such as Nagpur, Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam, Nasik,

Nanded, Adilabad, Chandrapur etc. are part of the basin.

Agriculture : - The basin consists of 15.5 million

hectares of culi:!ivable ! land(Rao, 1975).

45 ~p'dustry:- Producing most of the food grains and

commercial crops. Apart from agriculture number of small

and medium scale industries are located on the banks of

the basin. Among the major industries cement (Adilabad),

paper mills.( Sirpur, Bhadrachalam, Rajahmundry), fertilizer

(Ramagundam)" power(Ramagundam etc.) and sugar (tJizamabad­

and parts of Maharastra) are important.

~:- Apart from many minor irri!'O!gation dams on

tributaries the Puma, Sri Ram Sagar, Polavaram barrage

are situated on main Godavari river itselfQ Among the dams

on tributaries l1anjeera( on Manjp.era river) Sileru(on Sileru)

Maneru, (on Maneru) and Sat Nala (on Sat Nala of Penganga)

are important. The Sileru( on Sileru of Sabari ) is a

hydrolectric dam producing electrici t-y.

Mining : - The coalproducti on by -I..:11e Sincareni Colleri·;: s

(SeCL) is the major hwnan activity over the basin. The

annual production of coal by seCL is about 1 0 ::1. t. and

number of new coal mines are under construction as expansion

programme. Some Coal mines Western coal fields of India

(\VCL) are also part of Godavari basin ',vCL produces about

iff m. t. of coal per annum

Apart from the coal active mining is in progress

over the basin for limestones, manganese, slates, iron ore

etc. In addit ion to the SeCL coal mining o

46 All these activities directly and indirectly

influence the' nature of the river. These activities

have considerable impact on mass transport of the river

basin o

RAINFALL AND CLIMATE:- The climate over the

basin is essentially semi-arid in nature. The south

west monsoon is predominent over the basin between June

and Novembe r. The annual mean rainfall over entire

baSin, base~ on IMD data is 1,185 mm.

The seasonal temperature variations are from

10 0 C to 47°C. Based on the intensity of rainfa 11,

the two seasons can be recognised, namely r.lOnsoon('\l/et)

season from June to November and non-mmnsoon(Dry)season

from December to I'1ay.

FAUNA Al\JD FLOR.~ : - The Gc4avari basin has

15.5 million hectares of cultivated land (Rao 1975)and

nearly 15% of the basin is cover0d by sub-trcpical

semi deciduous forest. Teak, sal and bamboo are major

commercial trees in the forests located in lower part

of the basin.. This forest habitation includes sambar,

.deer, wild boar peacocks, bear, monkey and occassionally

~eopards and tigers. The fish and crocodiles are also

thriving in perinnial scour pools of the Godavari and

Pranahita.

47

Mean Elevation: The Godavari riv8r catchment area

i~ divided into 38 division, each one as an intersectiona~

area bet'""een two longitudes and lati tudes~ EDch of

this 38 divisions were further divided into sixteen

sub divisions. The mean elevation of the each

sub division is calculated based on a formula, takinG

into consid(;,ra ti.on of minirnur:1-mi:l.ximum contour lines

passing through its area(Rainson, 1976). T11e mean

elevations of the sub-divisions are shown in Fig. 2.2.

The entire: b.:J.sin mean elevation ba;:;ed on computations

of 38 divisions usinG the formula has come to 420 meters.

The tributaries mean elevat.ions are:.;iven in Table 5 B.

48 The present study isprimarily to isolate the

influence of three types of rocks on present day

geological process of the Godavari 00. sin. The se three

types of rocks namely, Plutonics i.e., Grani~es and

hard rocks (Archaeans) , Sedimentary rocks(pakhals and

Gondwanas) and Volconics (Deccan traps) because of

two reasons. First is their dist·j".ct difference in

origin and the ~r?sional characteristics. This aspect ,. . ....... "

will be discussed in Chapter~Vp relating to the sedi­

ment transportations o The second reason is their

unique areal distribution over the basin i.ee, the

Deccan traps in the upper part~ sedimentary rocks in

the lower part and Granites and handrocks in the

eastern and south western parts of the basin. This

type of favourable geographical distribution of rocl\.

types have helped in remar}mble ",ay to develop certain

mass transportation models \',hlch will be presented in

forth coming chapters.

Therefore, in the future part of this work the

geological units are mentioned \'/i th three names granites

sedimentary rocks and Deccan trapso For example the

term sedimentary rocks includes Pakhals and Gondwanas.

It may be mentioned here that the geological connatations

and nomenclatures ",erA aot strictly fo110\'Ied for the

simplicity and clarity, keeping inveiw of the scope of

the study &

AVERAGE ELEVATION OF THE GODAVt\RI BASIN 23 -,---.----~--__ _r----_r--~(~m~e~te~r2sL)~_=~r_--~r_--~----~--~ r- I I

22

21 "

305

\ \ 1315 \ \

SCALE

•

'f' Sf?

~~ o AREA

I ~(,f>. \ 20~~--+_----r---~~~_+~r~(,~~~--_4--~_+r_--_+----_r~ ?~ I '

19

18

569 .... .... " \ ... ... 418'\, 312 ',,430 \~ 692

450 "371-- ..... -" : ... \()~~ I ----, .... \\~ t '-MAIN GODAVARI BAS! . .... ,--~ .... l ;'

"\~ ~\ I, Sp..ep.. 822 I

288 256 I 271., \

931

~ 17L---~----~----~1----~----~----~----~----~----~-7~~--~ 73 74 75 76

"-