Channel Change and Planform Identification of the Padma River

The course of the Padma River in 1860 occupied about 40% of the enveloped area. In the early 1940s and 1950s the river had widened significantly particularly at the constructing location of the Padma Bridge. The boundary of the river at that period occupied nearly 60% area of the envelope of 1925-2009. During the early 1960s and 1970s the river boundaries gradually shifted in the northeastern direction forming alternate three wide and two narrow reaches. In 2003, the river was wider one and during the current decade the river has occupied almost 90% of the river boundary envelope of 1925-2009. The upstream planform was a single threaded meandering river in 1860 and a multi-threaded braided planform was present at Mawa from 1925 to 1952. A 20 km long multi-threaded reach was present at the upstream in the 1970s. Again the river became single-threaded meandering planform in 1984 and and in the late 1990s almost the whole river turned into a braided river creating multiple channels and continuing to the present time. Total sinuosity of the river varied in a large range, from 1.2 to 2.4 during the last 84 years with an average value of 1.8.