Tectonic forcing of evolution and Holocene erosion rate of ravines in the Marginal Ganga Plain, India

The correspondence between the orientations of fractures and that of first order ravine suggests that the ravine growth is genetically related to extensional stress regime of the peripheral forebulge. Further, the clay sedimentology indicates that besides regional tectonics, action of swelling clays may have accelerated development of the badlands. The geomorphic relationship between the length of ravined catchments and incision in the trunk channels indicates that the river-incision associated base level change is not playing an overarching role in the ravine formation in the MGP.