Ganges Basin

Ganges Basin

The Ganga basin is a part of the composite Ganga-Brahmaputra-Meghna basin, which drains an area of 1,086,000 square kilometres. The basin lies in China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh. It is bounded on the north by the Himalayas, on the west by the Aravalli as well as the ridge separating it from Indus basin, on the south by the Vindhyas and Chotanagpur Plateau and on the east by the Brahmaputra ridge. Its catchment lies in the states of Uttar Pradesh (294,364 km²), Madhya Pradesh (198,962 km²), Bihar (143,961 km²), Rajasthan (112,490 km²), West Bengal (71,485 km²), Haryana (34,341 km²), Himachal Pradesh (4,317 km²) and Delhi (1,484 km²), the whole of Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan. The basin has a population of more than 500 million, making it the most populated river basin in the world.

The basin comprises mountainous regions of the Himalayan ranges with dense forests, as well as the sparsely forested Shiwalik Hills and the fertile Gangetic Plains. The central highlands lying to the South of the Great Plains consist of mountains, hills and plateaus intersected by valleys and river plains. The important soil types found in the basin are sand, loam, clay and their combinations such as sandy loam, silty clay etc.

The annual surface water potential of the basin has been assessed as 525 km³ in India, out of which 250 km³ is utilisable water. Arable area of the basin in India is about 580,000 km², which is 29.5% of the total cultivable area of India.

The water related issues of the basin are both due to high and low flow. In India, the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal are affected by floods. As Bangladesh lies at the confluence of Brahmaputra River and Ganges River, it suffers from terrible floods almost every year. Many of the flood problems are caused by northern tributaries of Ganga such as Kosi and Mahananda. Besides these problems are also caused by southern tributaries.

The basin is a high earthquake risk area and experts warn that as many as a million deaths could be expected on the Ganges plain, as the southern flank of the Himalayas has not been active enough over past centuries to release the energy accumulated by the millimetre per week upward movement of the Indian plate.

External links

* [http://www.ppl.nl/index.php?option=com_wrapper&view=wrapper&Itemid=82 Bibliography on Water Resources and International Law] . Peace Palace Library
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4322582.stm S Asia's deadly Himalayan fault]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Ganges River — Hindi Ganga River, northern India and Bangladesh. Held sacred by followers of Hinduism, it is formed from five headstreams rising in Uttaranchal state. On its 1,560 mi (2,510 km) course, it flows southeast through the Indian states of Uttar… …   Universalium

  • Ganges — otherusesGeobox River name = Ganges native name = Ganga map caption = Map showing the course of the Ganges and selected tributaries country = India country1 = Nepal country2 = Bangladesh city = Haridwar city1 = Soron city2 = Kannauj city3 =… …   Wikipedia

  • Ganges — Ganga, Padma Der Ganges und seine Nebenflüsse DatenVorlage:Infobox Flus …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Ganges Delta — The Ganges Delta (also Sunderban Delta or the Bengal Delta) is a river delta in the South Asia region of Bengal, consisting of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, India. It is the world s largest delta, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. It …   Wikipedia

  • Ganges — (Ganga)    The Ganges or Ganga is India’s most sacred river. It is 1,557 miles long and sweeps a valley or basin 200 to 400 miles wide. Its scientific source is in glaciers on the southern slopes of the HIMALAYAS, some 10,300 feet above sea level …   Encyclopedia of Hinduism

  • Ganges-Yamuna Doab — ▪ region, India       segment of the Indo Gangetic Plain in western and southwestern Uttar Pradesh state, northeastern India. Having an area of about 23,360 square miles (60,500 square km), it lies between the Ganges (Ganga) (Ganges River) and… …   Universalium

  • GANGES —    the great sacred river of India, which, though somewhat shorter than the Indus, drains a larger area and traverses a more fertile basin; it has its source in an ice cave on the southern side of the Himalayas, 8 m. above Gangotri, at an… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Foreland basin — basins, where accommodation space is generated by lithospheric extension. Types of Foreland BasinForeland basins can be divided into two categories: * Peripheral (Pro) foreland basins, which occur on the plate that is subducted or underthrust… …   Wikipedia

  • National Ganga River Basin Authority — (NGRBA) is a financing, planning, implementing, monitoring and coordinating authority for the Ganges River, functioning under the Ministry of Environment of India. The mission of the organization is to safeguard the drainage basin which feeds… …   Wikipedia

  • Drainage basin — Example of a drainage basin. The dashed line is the main water divide of the hydrographic basin A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
… Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”