01. Drainage: It describes the river system of an area
02. Drainage basin :The area drained by a single river system is called Drainage basin eg: Ganga River Basin
03. Which is the largest river basin in the world and In India ?
Ans: Amazon River basin in the world and Ganga River Basin India.
04. WaterDivide: An elevated area, such as a mountain or an upland,
separates two drainage basins is known as a water divide.
Eg: Ambala water divide separates Indus and Ganga in Haryana
05. How do the Indian drainage system is classified ?
Ans: The Indian Drainage system is classified based on its origin, It is broadly divided into two categories:
• The Himalayan rivers; and
• The Peninsular rivers.
06. What are the physiographic units are involved in the evolution of Indian Drainage river basin ?
Ans: The drainage system in India has evolved and adjusted itself with the evolution of
the three physiographic units:
• The Himalayas
• The peninsular plateau
• The Indo Gangetic plain
07. Explain the difference between Himalayan & Peninsular Rivers ?
Ans:
| HIMALAYAN RIVERS | PENINSULAR RIVERS |
These rivers are origin from Kailash Range of Himalayas near Manasarovar lake in Tibet |
These rivers are origin from Central Highland & Western Ghats of Peninsular Plateau |
| Himalayan rivers are perennial in nature | Peninsular rivers are non perennial in nature |
Main source of these rivers are Rainfall & melting of Glacier |
These rivers are depend only on rainfall |
| The region in which these rivers are flow hardly require irrigation | The region in which these rivers flow highly require irrigation |
These rivers mostly create floods and cause destruction |
These rivers do not create much floods |
| These rivers create Deltas | These rivers create Deltas & Esturies |
These rivers fall in Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal |
These rivers also fall in Arabian Sea & Bay of Bengal |
| These rivers have large river basin | These rivers have smaller river basin compare to Himalayan rivers |
| The Himalayan rivers have long courses from their source to the sea. | The Peninsular rivers have shorter and shallower courses |
The major Himalayan Rivers are Indus, Ganga, & Brahmaputhra |
The major peninsular rivers are Godavari, krishna, Mahanadi, Kaveri, Narmada, Tapi etc |
08. Difference between Deltas and Esturies
Ans:
| DELTAS | ESTURIES |
It is a wetland formed due to the deposition of sediments by rivers |
The estuary is an area where saltwater of sea mixes with fresh water of rivers. It is formed by a tidal bore. |
| Delta is formed by the Ganga, Brahmaputra, Godavari, Krishna, Cauvery, Mahanadi etc in India | The rivers Tapti and Narmada rivers form the estuary in India |
Delta is a low triangular area of alluvial deposits where a river divides before entering a larger body of water. |
It is the funnel-shaped mouth of a river where tides move in and out. |
| Deltas are mostly used in agriculture & fishing activities | Estuary areas are covered for agricultural activities. |
09. Gorge : A deep, narrow valley with steep sides, usually formed by a river or stream cutting through hard rock. Eg: Byson Gorge in Andhra Pradesh
10. Meander : A meander is one of a series of regular curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse.
11. Ox-Bow Lake : An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake that forms when a wide meander of a river is cut off, creating a free-standing body of water.
12. List out the land forms created by the work of River
Ans:
• Waterfall
• V Shaped Valley
• Canyons
• Gorges
• Meanders
• Ox-Bow lake
• Flood Plains
• Deltas
• Esturies
13. River System : A river along with its tributaries are called a river system
14. Explain the Drainage System of River Indus
Ans:
• The river Indus rises in Tibet, near Lake Mansarowar.
• It Flows in the North west direction and enters India in the Ladakh.
• It forms a picturesque gorge in this part.
• Several tributaries, the Zaskar, Nubra,Shyok and Hunza, join it in the Kashmir region.
• The Indus flows through Baltistan and Gilgit and emerges from the mountains at Attock.
• The main tributaries of Indus such as Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, Satluj join together and meet Indus near Mithankot in Pakistan.
• Later Indus flows towards south and falls into Arabian Sea, by crossing east of Karachi.
• The Indus plain has a very gentle slope with a total length of 2900 km,
• A little over a third of the Indus basin is located in Ladakh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab of India and the rest is in Pakistan.
15. What do you meant by Indus water Treaty (1960) ?
Ans:
• Indus water Treaty is an agreement between India & Pakistan for sharing the water resources of river Indus as it is moving at both countries.
• It was signed by the President of Pakistan, Ayub Khan & the Prime Minister Of India, Jawahar Lal Nehru at Karachi in 19th Sep 1960
• According to this treaty India can use only 20 per cent of the total water carried by
the Indus river system.
• This water is used for irrigation in Punjab, Haryana and the southern
and the western parts of Rajasthan.
16. Explain the Drainage System of River Ganga.
Ans:
• The river Ganga has twin sources.
• The main source is the Gangotri glacier where it is called the Bhagirathi.
• The other is Satopanth glacier
• It is located the north-west of Badrinath where it is called the Alakananda.
• The two join at Devprayag to form the R. Ganga and emerges from the hills of Haridwar.
• It flows in the direction of south east
• It cover the distance of around 2500 km, which makes it as the longest river in India
• The tributaries of River Ganga can be classified based on their origin
• Himalayan tributaries of Ganga are : Yamuna, Gomti, Sarda, Ghaghra, Gandak and Kosi
• Peninsular Tributaries of Ganga are : Chambal, Betwa, Ken, Son
• The river Yamuna rises from the Yamunotri Glacier in the Himalayas.
• The river yamuna meets the Ganga at Prayagraj, Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh
• The Ganga flows eastwards till Farakka in West Bengal.
• Farakka is the the northernmost point of the Ganga delta.
• The river Bhagirathi-Hooghly is a distributary of river Ganga.
• The river Ganga is known by Padma in Bangladesh
• The mainstream, flows southwards into Bangladesh and joined by the Brahmaputra.
• Further downstream, it is known as the Meghna.
• The largest Delta in the world 'Sunderban' is formed by the rivers Ganga and Brahmaputra
• The river Ganga has Dendritic drainage pattern
• The Ambala water divide seperate Indus and Ganga at Haryana
17. What makes the Ganga a Dentritic drainage pattern ?
Ans:
• The plains from Ambala to the Sunderban stretch over nearly 1800 km
• The fall in its slope is hardly 300 metres.
• Thereis a fall of just one metre for every 6 km.
• Therefore, the river develops large meanders.
• This makes the Ganga a Dentritic drainage pattern
18. What programme initiated by the Indian Government to clean Ganga? What is its objective ?
Ans:
• The programme which initiated by the Indian Goverment to clean Gaga is Namami Gange Programme.
• It is approved a flagship programme by the Union Government on June 2014.
• It's twin objectives are :
1. Effective abatement of pollution,
2. conservation and rejuvenation of the national river, Ganga.
• The Ministry of Jal shakti is the responsible for this mission.
19. Explain the Drainage System of River Brahmaputra.
Ans:
• The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet east of Manasarovar lake from chemayungdung glacier.
• It flows eastwards parallel to
the Himalayas.
• On reaching the NamchaBarwa (7757 m), it takes a ‘U’ turn and entersIndia in Arunachal Pradesh through a gorge, here, it is called the Dihang
• It is joined by the Dibang, the Lohit, and many other tributaries to form the Brahmaputra in Assam.
• Brahmaputra is known as the Tsang Po in Tibet and Jamuna in Bangladesh.
• In Tibet, the river carries a smaller volume of water and less silt as it is a cold and a dry area.
• In India, it passes through a region of high rainfall. so it carries a large volume of water and considerable amount of silt.
• The Brahmaputra has a braided channel in its entire length in Assam and forms many riverine islands like Majuli (Largest riverine island in the world)
• The Brahmaputra is also known as river of floods as it overflows its banks, causing widespread
devastation in Assam and
Bangladesh.
19. Explain the Drainage System of Peninsular rivers.
Ans:
| River | Origin | Direction of flow | Distance | Tributaries | States | Special features |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Godavari | Triambak plateau in Maharashtra | Eastward | 1500 km | Purna, Wardha, Pranhita, Manjira, Wainganga & Penganga | Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha & Andhra Pradesh | Largest peninsular river. It is also known as Dakshin ganga |
| Krishna | Mahabaleeshwar hills in Maharashtra | Eastward | 1400 km | Tungabhadra, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, Bhima & Musi | Maharashtra, Karnataka & Andhrapradesh | Second largest peninsular river |
| Narmada | Amarkantak hills in Madhya Pradesh | Westward | 1300 km | Kharmer, Burhner, Banjar, | Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat | The ‘Marble rocks’,near Jabalpur, and the ‘Dhuadhar falls are some of the notable ones. The highest statue in the world "Statue of Unity" built on the banks of this river |
| Mahanadi | Sihawa mountains in chattisgarh | Eastward | 860 km | Seonath, Mand, Ib, Hasdeo | Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha | The longest earthen dam in the world, the Hirakud Dam is built over in this river |
| Cauvery | Brahmagiri Range in karnataka | Eastward | 760 km | Amravati, Bhavani, Hemavati and Kabini. | Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu | The river Kaveri makes the second biggest waterfall in India, known as Shivasamudram Falls. |
| Tapti | Multai hills of stapura range in Madhya Pradesh | Westward | 720 km | Girna, Nesu | Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat | Tapti River overflowed its banks during heavy rains during the monsoon season and kills 1000 of people |