Subarnarekha River: The Gold Streak of India
Subarnarekha is a rain-fed river flowing in the eastern part of India and sustaining millions of people of Jharkhand, West Bengal, and Orissa. It originates near Nagri village in the Ranchi district and runs through some major industrial towns and cities,
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1 Introduction The word “Subarnarekha” literally means “streak of gold.” It is a combination of two words; “Subarna” meaning gold and “rekha” meaning line or streak in Indian languages. Traditionally, it is believed that gold was mined at a village named Piska near the origin of the river. This was the reason for the river being named as Subarnarekha. It has been known that gold particles were found in the Subarnarekha River bed sediments at ancient time. At some places, even today people are searching for the gold particles in the sandy beds of the river. As the tributaries of Subarnarekha flow over gold-bearing rocks of the Panch Pargana plain, they pick up particles of gold from the auriferous rocks for deposition in the bed of Subarnarekha. Still, it carries grains of the glittering metal which is often panned from its sandy bed by the local residents along the middle reaches of the river. The Subarnarekha is a rain-fed river and ranked as the smallest river basin among fourteen major river basins of India. The Subarnarekha River originates near Nagri village (23° 18′ 02″N and 85° 11′ 04″E) in the Ranchi district and runs through some major cities and towns, i.e., Jamshedpur, Chaibasa, Ranchi, Bhadrak before joining to the Bay of Bengal near Kirtania port (21° 33′ 18″N and 87° 23′ 31″E) in Orissa. The catchment area of the Subarnarekha River basin extends over 19,296 km2 and accounts for 0.6% of the geographical area of India (Roy et al. 2013). The total annual yield of water flowing within the basins is in the order of 7940 million m3. The Subarnarekha River basin is bounded by north latitudes of 21° 33′ to 23°32′ and east longitudes of 85° 09′ to 87° 27′ and flows in the north-east corner of the Peninsular India (Fig. 1). Chota Nagpur plateau bounded the Subarnarekha River basin from the north-west side, while it is A.K. Singh (&) S. Giri Natural Resources and Environmental Management Group, CSIR-Central Institute of Mining and Fuel Research, Barwa Road, 826015 Dhanbad, India e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2018 D.S. Singh (ed.), The Indian Rivers, Springer Hydrogeology, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2984-4_22
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Fig. 1 Location map of Subarnarekha River basin
Table 1 State-wise distribution of the Subarnarekha drainage area
S. No. 1 2 3
Name of the state
Catchment area (km2)
Jharkhand 13,193 Orissa 3‚114 West Bengal 2‚989 Total 19,296 Source Survey of India (1923–1979), Rao (1975)
Percentage 68.4 16.1 15.5 100
restricted by the Brahmani River basin in the south-west, Burhabalang River basin in the south, and by the Bay of Bengal in the south-east side. The Subarnarekha flows through Ranchi, Saraikela, and east Singhbhum districts of Jharkhand, west Midnapore district of West Bengal, and Balasore district of Orissa. It flows a distance of about 395 km from its origin before falling into the Bay of Bengal. Out of the total travel distance of 395 km, river flows 269 km in Jharkhand, 64 km in West Bengal, and 62 km in Orissa (CBP
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