Indus and Ganges

Gang - the first in the value of a river in India and is one of the large rivers Asia. Ganga basin area is exceptionally favorable for the formation of a powerful river system. The river begins in the rich rainfall and snow, the highlands of the Himalayas, and then goes on a vast plain, also richly moisturizes. The length of the Ganges - 2700 km ', and Living surface pool - 1,125,000 square kilometers. Average consumption exceeds the Yellow River five times. Ganges begins two sources (Bhagirathi and Alaknanda) at an altitude of 4500 meters. It cuts through the narrow gorges of the northern ranges of the Himalayan mountains and rushes into the plain. There are already over it slowly and quietly. With the Himalayan Ganges collects multi-yasestvo full-flowing tributaries, including its largest tributary of the river Yamuna. Tributaries of the Ganges is much less gets to the Dean of the plateau. At the confluence of the Bay of Bengal Ganges with the Brahmaputra forms an extensive delta. Begins this delta for 500 kilometers to the sea. Within the lower Ganges delta splits into many branches. The largest of these are the Meghna on the east (it falls into the Brahmaputra) and the Hooghly in the west. The distance between them in a straight line is 300 kilometers. Sleeves Ganges and Brahmaputra change its direction, wandering within the deltaic plain. Usually these changes occur during heavy floods that have affected almost every population Ganga basin. Nutrition Ganga is due to melting snow and ice in the Himalayas, and mainly - the summer monsoon. Therefore, the rise in water level occurs in May and gradually increases and reaches its maximum in July - September due to monsoon rains. During this period, width and depth of the Ganges riverbed in some areas is twice the width and depth after the flood. Flooding in the delta also occur due to the surge hurricane winds from the sea. These floods are not frequent, but they are especially strong and cause catastrophic disasters. In other terms, formed the third after the Ganges and Brahmaputra largest river of South Asia - the Indus. Along the length of the Indus slightly exceeds the Ganges and the Brahmaputra, but in the basin far below. Its length - 3180 km. Like the Brahmaputra, the Indus rises in southern Tibet at an altitude of 5,300 meters above sea level. Breaking through the ridges of the Himalayas, the Indus forms a system of deep ravines by several tens of kilometers long, with an almost sheer slopes and narrow riverbed, where the river rages, forming rapids and rapids. Out on the plain, the Indus splits on the sleeves, which are partially dry during the dry season. But during the rainy season they again coalesce, reaching a total width of 22 kilometers. Within the Indus valley takes its main tributary - Padzhnad, which is formed from five sources. Therefore, the whole area is called the Punjab, which means Pyatireche. Indus delta at the confluence of the Arabian Sea is considerably inferior in size deltas of other rivers in South Asia. Earthquakes, often in the Indus basin, sometimes significantly affect the change in direction of flow of rivers. For example, in the mid 19 th century by an earthquake in the middle reaches of the Indus crashed. He dammed a large section of the river and turned it into a lake. A few months later the river breached the dam and the lake was lowered for one day, causing severe flooding at the same time. Like other rivers of Asia, the Indus is powered by the melting of snow and ice in the mountains and the summer monsoon. But rainfall in the Indus Basin is much smaller than in the Ganges basin - the Brahmaputra and the evaporation is much greater. Therefore, high water Indus less than these rivers. Between the period of spring floods associated with snowmelt, and the period of monsoon flooding occurs during a significant downturn and a summer water recovery is never as great as on the Ganges and Brahmaputra. Due to the aridity of much of the pool increases the value of the Indus as a source of irrigation.