Uttarakhand Glacier Burst: Causes and Effects

 On 7th february, Uttarakhand chamoli district area witnessed a flood because of a glacier burst and the force was so much that people didn't get time to react. So far, 26 people have lost their life and 170+ peoples are missing and many villages are on high alert for flooding.

Glacial lake Outburst Flooding (GOLF) recently this term was in the news with respect to the Uttarakhand flood this incident happened on 7th february that is on sunday morning. First I will show you the exact place where this disaster took place, It happen in tapovan area of joshimath in Uttarakhand chamoli district and chamoli district is a part of the gadwal division of Uttarakhand. The peoples of gadwal are known as gadwali and they speak gadwali language.

The region consists of rugged mountain ranges running in all directions and separated by narrow valleys which  in many cases become deep gorges or ravines the highest mountain are in the eastern chamoli district also has many pilgrimage and tourist sites including badrinath, hemkund sahib and valley of flowers and by the way chamoli also happen to be the birthplace of famous chipko movement anyways just to understand the elevation of this district the second highest mountain in India after kanchanjanga that is nanda devi is located in this district that means the elevation of this district ranges from 800 meters to 8000 meters above sea level, The northern division of this district is occupied by high mountain ranges and snow-covered peaks and as we all know these mountains are part of himalayan mountain range that means they are composed of high grade metamorphic and volcanic rocks, On the other hand the south division of this district is occupied by mountain ranges of low altitude and are composed of sedimentary and low grade metamorphic rocks when compared to the northern division. the northern district of Uttarakhand are known for glaciers and these glacier of Uttarakhand also serve as vital source of providing fresh water to the state when water comes down from regions of  higher elevation to lower elevation governments often install hydropower projects to tap into more gravitational  potential energy for  for meeting domestic energy demands , two such hydropower projects by the name of Rishi ganga power project and tapovan vishnugad project have been nearly washed away by the flash flood.

The recent Uttarakhand flood actually happened on the dhali ganga river, Dhali ganga river arises on the raikana glacier as I've said in the beginning that the state of Uttarakhand is home to many glaciers. 

when glaciers melt and they from glacial lake the water from the lake slowly drains out in the form of a river and now imagine even few massive chunks of breaks and fall into the lake that will not only increase the volume of water in the lake it will also increase pressure as a result water gushes out and causes flash flash flood in the river. As I've said the southern division of the chamoli district consists of mountains that are composed of sedimentary and low grade metamorphic rocks. Naturally when large volume of water comes down at such a massive speed and it will washed away sediments rocks and boulders it will cause massive erosion landslides and any kind of man-made infrastructure like dam villages will be washed away

So, whenever you hear glacier burst it means bursting off glacial lake outburst flooding, It is a sudden release of a massive amount of water which is held in glacier lake and that sudden usually happens when massive chunks of glacier breaks and falls into the lake now there are speculations whether the flood was triggered by a glacial lake burst or landslide and many experts are looking into it....