In most regions of our country, human interference with the natural landscape, including diverse river systems, is growing as a result of population increase and insatiable need. As a consequence, the river system was in danger and jeopardized the socioeconomic and infrastructure systems permanently. Investigating rivers' historical evolution and producing accurate predictions about how rivers can adapt to shifting environmental conditions and growing anthropogenic impacts require thorough morphological characterization and change evaluation of rivers. This study focuses on the upper reach of the Gumara River along a 47.336 km stretch. Because the Gumara River is a highly meandering and dynamic fluvial system with significant natural and anthropogenic influences that harm living and nonliving things nearby the flow path. We used satellite images as a data source, and for detailed river morphological characterization, change detection, and to find out the disturbance that facilitates the change in each segment, the study reach was divided into six segments based on the channel geometry and various forms of human intervention along the river. In addition to satellite images Field observations, casual discussions with indigenous people in the area, laboratory analysis of the river bank material, and meteorological and hydrological data were used. Assessing the Morphological Characteristics and Changes of the Upper Reach Gumara River starting from 1957 to 2020 years in the Tana Basin, Ethiopia, was the main objective of this study. To characterize and detect the change in the study reach, various morphometric parameters such as Sinuosity index, braided index, river center line, actual river length, river width, meander neck length, and River area were determined using image analysis software (ERDAS Imagine 2015 and Arc GIS 10.5. The sinuosity increased by 5.49% throughout the 64-year investigation of the sinuosity index. Over 64 years, the neck length of the segment between numbers five and six decreased by 63%, and the total width rose by 0.348 m annually. The upper stretch of the Gumara River was dynamically altered, which upset the regional socioeconomic system. All of the morphometric parameter results and social information show that the upper reach of the Gumara River was dynamically changed and disrupted the local socioeconomic system. To sustain the damaged socioeconomic system, serious measures should be planned and implemented To sustain the damaged socioeconomic and infrastructural system, serious measures should be planned and implemented as soon as possible.

Keywords: Morphological characteristics - Neck length- Upper reach Gumar- Anthropogenic and natural impact