Geo-park development plan for khari river gorge landscape: Bhuj, Kutch, Gujarat

Abstract

Gorge is the narrow valley between the high rocky walls. River or stream is found in the base of gorge. It is an erosional landform which is found in the mountains and hilly regions in different part of the world creating interesting landform, which attracts people to gorge for its high view value, recreation value, educational value and Spiritual Value. Gorge formation found in the plains of Kutch has altogether different experience. Kutch is a hyper arid region of the Gujarat state. One of the micro watersheds of Khari River exhibits geomorphological condition of bed rock gorge in the main land of Kutch. Landscape of Khari River is a part of the endorheic basin. Generally, Bed rock channels and Gorge are found in upper reaches of the River, from where it decants. However, here Bed rock channel and gorge are observed in rocky plains of Kutch in Bhuj city. It shows many high intensity erosional features on the cretaceous sandstone such as – Gully erosion, Pools, Cliffs, Knick points, Pot holes, Flutes, Terraces and many more features for which its potential to becomes a Geo-park is put forward by the Gujarat mineral Research & Development society. As this gorge is developed in plains it is more accessible and visible by locals and visitors. Accessibility has created diverse association to the landform which one can observe in contextual and cultural setting around the gorge. This landscape of Khari River is facing many ecological and environmental degradation issues, because of accessibility, uncontrolled visitation, and lack of awareness, ignorance and exploitation of natural resources. In this thesis, Khari River gorge landform is taken as subject and tried to raise questions regarding possibility of management of the defined noteworthy features and wilderness quality of the Khari River gorge landscape through designing a geo park. It is important to develop strategies which can device and regulate the visitation, while maintaining environmental and visual quality of the gorge landscape. A design intervention is required to reveal and built recognition for the site’s natural process for visitors, to appreciate and engage with landscape. The Aim is to design Geo Park to focus the observation and experience of natural and cultural process at Khari River.