Newsletter No. 60;
IRBMS
5,80,000 Sq.km. The river Brahmaputra, is a trans are the Lohit, the Dibang, the Subansiri, the
boundary river, and its basin is spread over all the Jiabharali, the Dhansiri, the Manas, the Torsa, the
above four countries. Out of this total catchment Sankosh and the Teesta whereas the Burhidihing,
area 50.5% lies in Tibet, 33.6% in India, 8.1% in the Desang, the Dikhow, the Dhansiri and the
Bangladesh and 7.8% in Bhutan. In Tibet it is Kopili joins Brahmaputra from left.
known by Yarlung Tsangpo (also known as Yarlung
Zangbo by Chinese), in India by Brahmaputra Nad In India, it spreads over states of Arunachal
and in Bangladesh by Jamuna river. Pradesh,
Assam,
West
Bengal,
Meghalaya,
Nagaland and Sikkim and extends over an area of
The Brahmaputra River originates in the north 1,94,413 Sq.km which is nearly 5.9 % of the total
from Kailash ranges of Himalayas at an elevation of geographical area of India. It is bounded by the
5,300 m just south of the lake called Konggyu Tsho Himalayas on the north, by the Patkari range of
in Burang county of Tibet and flows for about a hills on the east running along the India-Myanmar
total length of 2,900 km. The river Yarlung border, by the Assam range of hills on the south
Tsangpo is the highest river in the World. The and by the Himalayas and the ridge separating it
Tsangpo gorge is very long and deep in Tibet, from Ganga basin on the west.
carved into granitic bedrock. It reaches very deep
from top to bottom, making it three times deeper The major part of basin around 55.48% of the total
than the Grand Canyon. It’s also one of the world’s area is covered with forest and 5.79% of the basin
longest 500 is covered by water bodies. It flows south-west
kilometers. The image at the beginning shows one through the Assam valley as Brahmaputra, and
of the most inaccessible and rugged sections, a further south through Bangladesh as Jamuna. In
part near the canyon entrance where the river Bangladesh the river Jamuna flows for 337 km up to
passes between two major peaks: the 7,782-meter its meeting point with the river Padma. The
Namcha Barwa and the 7,294-meter Gyala Peri. Jamuna joins with the Padma and the combined
canyons,
stretching
more
than
river together known as the Meghna ends its
From Tibet the river enters Arunachal Pradesh in journey, entering the Bay of Bengal. Bhutan also
India near Gelling as the Siang or Dibang river. In plays an integral part of the river basin, though it
India, it flows for 916 km. A large number of large does not come along the path of the river.
and small tributaries of the river joining from right
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Integrated River Basin Management Society