Brahmaputra
From WikiAssam
Brahmaputra is a 2,900 km long river that rises in the Chemayungdung Glacier in northern Himalayas, flows east in Tibet (along the Indian and Eurasian Plate suture zone), cuts across the eastern Himalayas and turns back west to form the Brahmaputra valley in Assam and then enters the Bay of Bengal via the Ganga-Jamuna delta. It is called Tsangpo in Tibet (Yarlung Zangbo Jiang in Chinese), Luit in Assam and Jamuna in Bangladesh.
As Tsangpo, it is the world's highest river (10,000 feet), with the deepest gorge. As it cuts across eastern Himalaya, it descends to almost sea level in about 150 miles.
It becomes a very wide river in the Assam valley -- stretching to 8 km near Dibrugarh but downstream near Guwahati it narrows to about 1 km as it cuts through the Meghalaya Plateau.
The wide river in upstream Assam has resulted in many river islands, the biggest of them being Majuli.
The Brahmaputra is the cause of devastating annual floods.
See also
External Links
- Brahmaputra Valley from visibleearth.nasa.gov
- Tsangpo expedition
- Rainbow and Hidden Falls image from IKONOS.
- Project Brahmaputra from Yunan University
- Why does the Brahmaputra remain untamed? by K S Valadiya
