Ganga River System
Ganga River
- The Ganga originates as Bhagirathi from the Gangotri glacier in Uttar Kashi District of Uttarakhand at an elevation of 7,010 m.
- Alaknanda River joins Bhagirathi at Devaprayag.
- From Devapryag the river is called as Ganga.
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Major tributaries of Alaknanda
[Kishenganga is the tributary of Jhelum] | Major tributaries of Bhagirathi
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- Ganga debouches [emerge from a confined space into a wide, open area] from the hills into plain area at
- It is joined by the Yamuna at Allahabad.
- Near Rajmahal Hills it turns to the south-east.
- At Farraka, it bifurcates into Bhagirathi-Hugli in West Bengal and Padma-Meghna in Bangladesh (it ceases to be known as the Ganga after Farraka).
- Brahmaputra (or the Jamuna as it is known here) joins Padma-Meghna at
- The total length of the Ganga river from its source to its mouth (measured along the Hugli) is 2,525 km.
Ganga – Brahmaputra Delta
- Before entering the Bay of Bengal, the Ganga, along with the Brahmaputra, forms the largest delta of the world between the Bhagirathi/Hugli and the Padma/Meghna covering an area of 58,752 sq km.
- The coastline of delta is a highly indented area.
- The delta is made of a web of distributaries and islands and is covered by dense forests called the
- A major part of the delta is a low-lying swamp which is flooded by marine water during high tide.