Indus-Ganga water divide
Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"; Class 11, Ch 3 "Drainage System"
Meaning
The Indus–Ganga water divide is a low strip of higher ground running through Haryana and Delhi. It is linked to the Delhi ridge. Rivers on its west side flow to the Indus system and the Arabian Sea. Rivers on its east side flow to the Ganga system and the Bay of Bengal. It formed when the western Himalayas were uplifted in the Pleistocene. That uplift broke the old Indo-Brahma river into separate systems.
Example
The Satluj, on the Punjab side, flows to the Indus. The Yamuna, a little to the east, flows to the Ganga. The divide between them is so low that it is hard to see on the ground.
Don't confuse with
- Arabian Sea–Bay of Bengal divide: the longer, national divide along the Delhi ridge, Aravallis and Sahyadri. The Indus–Ganga divide is only its northern part, on the plains.
Related concepts
- Himalayan drainage system
- Antecedent river
- Indo-Brahma river
- Water tower of Asia
- Mansarovar and Rakas Tal