The Drainage System of India
The Drainage System of India
The Drainage System
⇒ The flow of water through well-defined channels is known as ‘drainage’ and the network of such channels is called a ‘drainage system’. The drainage pattern of an area is the outcome of the geological time-period, nature and structure of rocks, topography, slope, amount of water flowing and the periodicity of the flow.
Important Drainage Patterns
(a) The drainage pattern resembling the branches of a tree is known as “dendritic” the examples of which are the rivers of northern plain.
(b) When the rivers originate from a hill and flow in all directions, the drainage pattern is known as ‘radial’. The rivers originating from the Amarkantak range present a good example of it.
(c) When the primary tributaries of rivers flow parallel to each other and secondary tributaries join them at right angles, the pattern is known as ‘trellis’.
(d) When the rivers discharge their waters from all directions in a lake or depression, the pattern is known as ‘centripetal’.
⇒ Indian drainage system may be divided on various bases. On the basis of discharge of water (orientations to the sea), it may be grouped into: 1. the Arabian Sea drainage; and 2. the Bay of Bengal drainage.
⇒ Nearly 77 % of the drainage area consisting of the Ganga, the Brahmaputra, the Mahanadi, the Krishna, etc. is oriented towards the Bay of Bengal while 23 % comprising the Indus, the Narmada, the Tapi, the Mahi and the Periyar systems discharge their waters in the Arabian Sea.
The Himalayan Drainage
⇒ The Himalayan drainage system mainly includes the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra river basins. Since these are fed both by melting of snow and precipitation, rivers of this system are perennial.
⇒ River Kosi, also known as the ‘sorrow of Bihar’, has been notorious for frequently changing its course. The Kosi brings huge quantity of sediments from its upper reaches and deposits it in the plains. The course gets blocked, and consequently, the river changes its course.
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