Indian Rivers and Their Drainage System

India’s drainage system mainly consists of multiple larger and smaller Indian rivers. While the Brahmaputra, Ganga, and Indus river basins are part of the Himalayas drainage system, The Mahanadi, Krishna, Tapi, Narmada, Godavari and Kaveri drain the southeastern peninsula.

Various Drainage Patterns

• Dendritic: Dendritic refers to a drainage system that resembles the limbs of a tree. The waterways of the plains state, for instance.
• Radial: The distribution pattern is characterised as radial whenever rivers begin from such a hilltop & run through all directions. The Amarkantak range, for example, is the source of rivers.
• Trellis – A trellis pattern is formed when a water’s principal tributaries flow and a subsidiary tributary joins them perpendicularly.
• The process is commonly known as centripetal, whenever waterways dump their flows in a reservoir or valley from all sides.

1. The Himalayan Drainage System

It is a system of drainage that runs through the Himalayan Mountains

A lengthy geologic record has shaped the Himalayas drainage system. Streams in this ecosystem are perpetual because they are supplied by blowing snow and moisture.

Furthermore, researchers think that throughout the Miocene period, a great river known as the Shiwalik or Indo-Brahma spanned the full transverse range of the Himalayas. It went through Assam and now Punjab and further to Sind, eventually discharging into the Gulf of Sind near lower Punjab. This perspective is supported by the Shiwalik’s extraordinary regularity, shallow marine origin, and alluvium of grains, sediment, mud, pebbles, and composites.

Himalayan Drainage System Classification- There are three major river systems in the area:

The Gangotri Glacier feeds the Bhagirathi and the Ganga’s sources. At Devaprayag in Uttarakhand, this is connected by the Alaknanda. The Ganges descends first from the highlands into Haridwar. The Gandak, the Ganga, the Kosi, and the Ghaghara are just a few of the main Indian rivers that enter the Ganga.

2. Indus River System- Tibet River originates in Mansarovar in Tibet, and it runs west and reaches India in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region. The Nubra, Hunza, Zankar, and Shyok are some tributaries that reach the Indus inside this region. The stream then travels through Baluchistan & Xinjiang until reaching Attock, where it breaks from the Himalayas. The Ravi, Satluj, Chenab, Beas and Jhelum rivers join the River at Mithankot in Pakistan.

3. Brahmaputra River System- It starts in Tibet, east of Mansarovar Lakes, between the origins of the rivers Sutlej and Indus. It’s a smidgeon wider than the origin of the Indus.

 Its path is primarily from outside India. After that, the Brahmaputra flows eastward, adjacent to the Himalayas. It reaches India by a canyon in Arunachal Pradesh. In Assam, it is accompanied by Lohit, the Dibang, and several other tributaries. Unlike the other northeastern rivers, the Brahmaputra deposits massive amounts of sediment on its bed, causing it to expand.

Peninsular Drainage System (PDS)

The Peninsular Drainage System (PDS) is a drainage system that runs along the

Several rivers flow across the peninsular plateau. The Tapi and Narmada rivers spring in the central Indian highlands, and then they join the Persian Gulf as they move southwest. The Narmada River runs through a small valley between Satpura mountains and Vindhyas by the North. In the south, there runs the Tapi river through the Satpura Mountains. The Kaveri, Krishna, Godavari, and Mahanadi are the four important rivers that travel northeast and enter the Bay of Bengal, and the Godavari is just the peninsula’s longest river.

The Westward Flowing Peninsular Indian Rivers

Three key geological occurrences in the ancient history influenced Peninsular India’s current drainage systems:

1. In the early medieval era, the eastern side of the Peninsular sank into the water due to depression. It has disrupted the river’s symmetrical layout on both sides of the original drainage.
2. Upheaval of the Himalayas caused by subsidence on the peninsular block’s northern flank resulted in trough faulting. The Narmada and Tapi rivers enter through faults and cover the original fractures with sediment. As a result, alluvial and deltaic deposits are scarce in these rivers.
3. During the same era, a little tilting of the peninsular block from northwest to south-eastern orientation to the entire drainage system towards the Bay of Bengal.

Conclusion

A drainage system is a group of rivers that comprises the main river with all its tributaries that flow into the lake or even the ocean. The topography of the ground influences the draining system if an area is characterised by hard and soft stones and the landscape’s slope. Any elevated feature, such as a hill or highland, separates two drainage basins. A water divide is a kind of upland. River basins are the catchments of big rivers, whereas watersheds are the catchments of tiny rivulets and rills.