GUWAHATI: Nine of India’s 20 most erosion-prone districts are located in Assam, according to a recent study that introduced the country’s first impact-based erosion-severity classification system.
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The affected districts include Goalpara, Dhubri, Chirang, Baksa, Kokrajhar, Bongaigaon, Udalguri, Nalbari, and Barpeta.
The study, covering 28 states and eight Union territories, found that 29.46 per cent of the country's landmass is prone to minor erosion, while 3.17 per cent experiences catastrophic erosion. Assam has ranked the highest in terms of vulnerability, with Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir following with three districts each.
Relatedly, the Brahmaputra basin was found to be at the highest risk of soil erosion, with an erosion rate of 47.64 tonnes per hectare per year (t/ha/yr), followed by the Mahanadi basin (28.42 t/ha/yr) and the Ganga basin (25.07 t/ha/yr).
The study, titled Geospatial Modelling and Mapping of Soil Erosion in India , was conducted by researchers from IIT Delhi and published in Catena by Elsevier.