Godavari River: Geomorphology and Socio-economic Characteristics

This chapter deals with the socio-economic characteristics of the Godavari River, India. It is a major river of the southern India originating in the Deccan traps, covers total area of 312,812 km² and occupies 9.5% of the total geographical extent of the nation. Geologically, from source in Nasik district to Nanded district in Maharashtra, the basin is occupied by Deccan Basalt Province followed by the older rock formations of the Peninsular Granites from Degloor tahsil (Nanded district) onwards along with the Puranas and the Gondwanas. From the hydrogeological point of view, it is observed that the groundwater occurs in confined (restricted) setting in joints, cracks, fissures, and fractures moving to deeper levels in the weathered zones of the Deccan basalts. In the Peninsular Gneiss and Gondwanas, the groundwater is found in unconfined (free) state, at which the yield is high. Geomorphologically, the source region is comprised of Sahyadri upland of Maharashtra followed by undulated terrain with chain of elevations and depressions interspersed with low plateau ranges along with plane alluvial deposits and the broad deltaic flats. The depositional environment of coarse gravel sediment in bottom beds of Godavari valley revealed that the streams are of relatively high energy with prevalent bed load transport, whereas finer silt and clay deposits in upper layers indicate that the streams are of lower inclination and there is fluctuation of climatic conditions.