Field Report

CONTENTS • •

Acknowledgement Chapter-I o Selection of the Study Area o Purpose of Study o Methodology

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Chapter –II o Location o Topography

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Chapter-III o o o o o o

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Kopai (About Kopai River) Kopai river and rough sketch of it’s surrounding area Kopai river and drainage network of selected area Various drainage features Stream ordering Long and cross profile of Kopai

Chapter-IV o Land use o Spatial patterns of land use

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Chapter-V o Gully Erosion o Impact of gully erosion on land use

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Chapter –VI o Conclusion o References

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LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS 1. Sir and Students 2. Kopai 3. Land use 4. Gully Erosion 5. Me and my friend beside the gully erosion’ 6. Impact of gully erosion on land use 7. Kopai river 8. Natural beauty of Kopai 9. Gully Erosion created by Kopai 10. Basin area of Kopai 11. Sonajhure forest beside Kopai 12. Land use of surrounding area of Kopai 13. Local landscape 14. Bridge over Kopai river

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT It is of great pleasure to express my experience in preparing a field report on the topic“KOPAI AND LANDUSE OF IT’S SURROUNDING AREA” various materials for the work were collected from various sources especially NATMO, Census Office. In those connection I wish to express my gratitude and sincere thanks to Prof. Mahadev Thakur Chakraborty, Department of Geography , B.Ed section, Calcutta University. I am very much grateful to him for his prompt, accurate, active guidance and Encouragement. Without which it would not have been possible to complete my Field Report. I am also grateful to the officers and member of the staff of Census office NATMO. I would like to my thankfulness to them who help me to make this Field Report from various Sides.

Signature ______________________ SUDWIPA MANDAL

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CHAPTER I • SELECTION OF THE STUDY AREA: Bolpur, Shantiniketan, the area surveyed, is extreme south part of Birbhum district, which is situated between 23º35'30" N to 23º42'20" N latitude and 87º38' E to 87º43' E longitude. From my childhood , I have listened the name of river ‘KOPAI’, number of times, which brought some curiosities in my mind. So as a student of Geography when I went to Shantiniketan I could not stop myself to watch and survey of KOPAI and land use of its surrounding area.

• PURPOSE OF STUDY: KOPAI is a famous river in this region. This river creates gully erosion in various places in it’s direction of flow. Gully erosion has various impact on land use of surrounding areas of KOPAI. So my purpose of study is to find out the land use of KOPAI river’s surrounding area.

• METHODOLOGY: My study on “KOPAI & LAND USE OF IT’S SURROUNDING AREA” is mostly depended on Secondary data. The procedures adopted for the field study in Bolpur-Shantiniketan can be divided into four parts as follows. i) Pre Field Study: Collected some map & data from NATMO & Census Office. ii) Field Study: I have snapped photos of KOPAI, land use & Gully Erosion. iii) Post Field Work Study: Maps, charts, diagrams were carefully prepared on the basis of the work. 4

iv) Literary Work: I consulted some books and prepared a Field Report.

CHAPTER-II • LOCATION: Bolpur-Shantiniketan C.D. Block which is located at the Birbhum District is situated between 23º35'30" N to 23º42'20" N and 87º38' E to 87º43'40" E This block is bordered by Bardhaman district, Nanoor, Illambazar, Panrui. Sainitilla & Labhpur block.

• TOPOGRAPHY This block is red soil plain as because it’s maximum area surrounded by river Kopai, Ajoy etc the Average height of this 40 mt above sea level. Small ponds/ reservoir belonging to individuals are found in it’s surrounding area.

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CHAPTER-III • KOPAI: Kopai river is very famous river of Bolpur-Shantiniketan as well as Birbhum as well as Birbhum district. This river is located at the northern part of Birbhum and very closed with Bolpur. Kopai south main Canal is located beside Kopai river. This Kopai river creates Gully Erosion in various places in it’s direction of flow. Use of land at surrounding area of Kopai river very much affected by Kopai river’s Gully Erosion. Many human settlement like Shantiniketan, Shriniketan, Bhubandanga, Nawaguri, Karimpur, Shyambati, Gopanagar, Goalpara etc situated at basin area of Kopai. Some reserved Forest also settled at basin area of Kopai. It’s communication depends on Railway, Rail station, Telephone line & road.

• KOPAI & ROUGH SKETCHES OF SELECTED AREA: Around the river Kopai there are railway station, residential area, road, reserved forest, reservoir, other plants. For Gully Erosion of Kopai river very much affected the basin area. And for this there are many lands at surrounding area of Kopai lying as rested land. Northern portion of selected area is cover by Forest & river. Southern portion is fully covered by human settlement-like-Gopalnagar, Bhubandanga.

• KOPAI & DRAINAGE NETWORK OF SELECTED AREA: Kopai river is most important river of Bolpur. At the time of verification of drainage network of Kopai river it is found that there are many perennial, non perennial, river, reservoir,

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canal. Gully Erosion is also found at the some places of river’s surrounding area.

• VARIOUS DRAINAGE FEATURES: By verification of drainage network of Kopai river it is found that there are many drainage features likei) Meander: It is located between 23º41'10" N to 23º40'20" N and 87º37'E to 87º38'E. ii) Sand Deposition: Almost as plain land deposition of sand in the river losses it’s navigation. iii) Gully Erosion: It is the main features of this river. It created in various places and it effected on land use.

• STREAM ORDERING: By Strahler method I calculate the stream ordering of Kopai basin and I get 4 orders as follows: i)

First Order ii) Second Order iii) Third Order iv) Fourth Order Symbol ...... -----x-x-x

Order 1 2 3 4

NO. of Segments 20 07 02 01

Bifurcation Ratio 2.86 3.5 2

• LONG & CROSS PROFILE OF KOPAI: I have drawn Long land Cross Profile of an Important river Kopai at Bolpur of the district in West Bengal.

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CHAPTER-IV • LAND USE: I have to say that various use of land is called as LAND USE. Example as below: Cultivation , Forestation, Human Settlement, Communication etc.

• SPATIAL PATTERNS OF LAND USE: My field works perform on land use at Syambati, Ballavpur, Goalpara, Madhusudanpur, Gopalnagar, Darpashila, Sitapur which are situated in the basin area of Kopai river of Bolpur, Birbhum. Use of lands in the above area of my field works are as follows: Forest, Irrigated land, Unirrigated land, Culturable waste land, Area not available for Cultivation. Name of Village

Total Area

Forest

Irrigated Land

583.95 289.20 311.91 145.45 103.19 81.59 91.02 111.96

184.51 ----42.56 1.21 ----2.83

219.31 225.81 303.11 55.45 62.32 76.48 34.39 16.59

Unirrigated Culturable land Waste 20.23 28.73 2.02 30.08 13.76 4.05 28.33 33.99

5.67 --0.80 1.02 ----1.21 ---

Area not available for Cultivation 154.23 34.66 5.98 16.34 25.90 1.06 27.09 58.55

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CHAPTER-V • GULLY EROSION: Gully erosion is one of most important process of Erosion of a river which depends on flow of water of it as such Gully Erosion influences the effect on Erosion of land as well as formation of land and use of land.

• IMPACT OF GULLY EROSION ON LAND USE: I would like to say about impact of Gully Erosion on land use that it’s a natural barrier towards Conservation of soil which may disturbed settlement pattern of human society, cultivation, communication and at many times it may also badly effect at forested area.

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CHAPTER-VI • CONCLUSION: It is evident from the discursion in foregoing chapters I realize that Kopai river is very famous river of Bolpur & it’s important feature is Gully Erosion which is very much affected on land use of it’s surrounding area like Cultivation, Settlement, Forestation, Communication etc.

• REFERENCES: FOR THE COMPLETION OF Field Report I have taken the help of the materials collected from different suitable sources including Economic Geography by Anish Chatterjee, Agricultural Geography written by Nikhil Krisna Dey, to complete this work properly.

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