Drainage Patterns and Drainage Systems of India

What is a Drainage System?

It refers to the system of flow of surface water mainly through the varieties of rivers and basins.

Types of Drainage Patterns

Dendritic Drainage Pattern

• It’s the foremost frequent type, and it’s like tree roots branching out.
• The river channel follows the slope of the bottom, forming a dendritic pattern.
• The pattern appears in regions where the rock beneath the stream has no discernible structure and may be eroded in altogether directions equally easily.

Parallel system

• It grows in areas with parallel, elongated landforms and a big slope to the surface.
• Following the slope of the surface, tributary streams tend to expand into a parallel-like pattern.

Trellis Drainage Pattern

•  In folded topography, where hard and soft rocks are parallel to every other, trellis drainage forms.
•  Synclines are down-turned folds that generate troughs during which the stream’s main channel is found.
• When the chief tributaries of major rivers flow parallel to one another and secondary streams join them at right angles, a pattern like this emerges.

Rectangular Drainage Pattern

•  It originates on a rocky surface that’s tightly connected.
•  Streams take the trail of elbow grease. Therefore they cluster in areas with the weakest exposed rock.
• The tributary streams bend sharply and enter the most stream at a steep angle.

Radial Drainage Pattern

Radial drainage forms around a central section and is frequent in conically shaped objects like volcanoes.

The drainage pattern is termed as ‘radial’ when rivers originate from a hill and flow in all directions.

Types of The System in India

There are primarily two river systems in India

1) The Himalayan system

2)The peninsular system

1) The Himalayan system

This system’s rivers are supplied by both snowmelt and precipitation, making them perpetual. In their rugged journey, these rivers create V-shaped valleys, rapids, and waterfalls. They generate depositional features like flat valleys, oxbow lakes, flood plains, braided channels, and deltas near the river mouth once they enter the plains.

It is divided into the following subsystems-

Indus River System

It originates from a glacier in Tibet’s Bokhara Chu region, near Mansarovar Lake, at an elevation of 4,164 metres. Demchok is a town in India’s Ladakh region where the river travels northwest. While the Karakoram and Ladakh ranges are both in India, the Indus is closer to the Ladakh range. At the Dung tu Ganga river system, the river makes a dramatic southwest turn.

There are four rivers that form the Ganga mainstream: the Alaknanda River, the Dhauliganga River, the Mandakini River, and the Pindar River.

Located at the foot of the Gangotri Glacier, Gaumukh, at an elevation of 3892 metres, the Bhagirathi is regarded as the source stream. It then branches out into the 350-kilometre long Ganga delta and finally flows into the Bay of Bengal.

Brahmaputra River System

The Brahmaputra originates in Tibet in the Chemayungdung glacier. The Indus and Sutlej rivers are very close to where they get their water. Through the Indus-Tsangpo Structure Zone in Tibet, a depression is formed between the southern Himalayas and the northern Kailas. The Tsangpo has a gentle slope despite its lofty altitude. A 640-kilometre-long navigable channel is included in the river’s leisurely pace. Many tributaries flow into it, Tibet. Near Lhatse Dzong, the Raga Tsangpo meets the Tsangpo for the first time. The Yarlung Tsangpo River, which bursts through the Himalayas, carries it across southern Tibet.

Peninsular system

Non-perennial water flow, a steady path, and no meanders identify the peninsular rivers. Predates the Himalayan system by a long shot. These mountains, which stretch along the western shore, provide a water split between the major peninsular rivers… The majority of Peninsular rivers flow from west to east, with the exception of the Narmada and Tapi. Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri are the Peninsular drainage’s other main river systems.

Conclusion

India’s drainage system is made up of a large number of small and large rivers. Since precipitation has evolved over time, it’s the consequence of the three major physiographic units’ evolutionary process as well. The Ganga, Brahmaputra, Mahanadi, Krishna, and other rivers are all oriented towards the Bay of Bengal, which represents approximately 77% of the region’s surface area. Twenty-three per cent of all rivers drain into the Arabian Sea, including the Narmada, Tapi, Mahi, and Periyar systems. The drainage basin of a river may be defined as a specific area that drains water from the river. A river and its tributaries drain a certain area, which is referred to as a geographic region. That boundary dividing one region from another is referred to as the watershed.