Thursday, January 7, 2010

Ganges Delta - World's Largest Delta

A delta is a large deposit of sand and soil at the mouth of a river formed from sediment carried downstream by the river water.

The Ganges Delta (also Sunderban Delta or the Bengal Delta) is a river delta in the South Asia region of Bengal, consisting of Bangladesh and the state of West Bengal, India. It is the world's largest delta, and empties into the Bay of Bengal. It is also called The Green Delta

They are vast tract of forest and saltwater swamp forming the lower part of the Ganges Delta, extending about 260 km along the Bay of Bengal from the Hooghly River Estuary in India to the Meghna River Estuary in Bangladesh.

It arises from the confluence of the following major rivers:

  • Ganges (Same river named in India) or Padma (Same river named in Bangladesh) - The long river running horizontally in the picture stretching from West (India) to East (Bangladesh). This river ends at the point, where it's direction is vertical in the map. While, the vertical extension of this river that met the ocean is called Meghna.
  • Brahmaputra (Same river named in India) or Jamuna (Same river named in Bangladesh) - The wide river in the picture stretching from North (India) to South (Bangladesh) in North-Western part of the map. This river has ended where it has met The Sacred Ganges or Padma.
  • Meghna (In Bangladesh) - The wide river flowing vertically in the Southern part of the map, starting from the adjacent area near the confluence of River Padma and ending into the Bay of Bengal with new alluvial land (Chars) each year.

The Ganges delta has the shape of a triangle, and is considered to be an "arcuate" delta (arc-shaped). It covers more than 105,000 km2 (41,000 sq mi). Most of the delta is composed of alluvial soils, with red and red-yellow laterite soils found as one heads farther east. The soil has large amounts of minerals and nutrients, which is good for agriculture. The enormous delta of the Ganges-Brahmaputra River is the lifeblood for one of the largest populations on Earth.

1 comment:

  1. The Ganges delta has the shape of a triangle, and is considered to be an "arcuate" delta (arc-shaped).You can book Online Bus Ticket also.

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