Inland drainage
Also called: Interior drainage · Topic: Drainage System of India: Rivers, Basins and Patterns · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"
Meaning
Inland drainage, also called interior drainage, is drainage in which streams never reach the sea. Instead they end in a lake, a playa (a shallow salt flat that holds water only after rain), or they simply sink into the sand. It happens in dry areas, where there is little rain, water evaporates fast and the land has no slope towards the sea. The water evaporates and leaves salt behind, so these lakes are often salty.
Example
In the Thar desert of Rajasthan, many short streams vanish after a short distance. Others drain into Sambhar Lake near Jaipur, India's largest inland saline lake and a major source of salt.
Don't confuse with
- Centripetal drainage pattern: this describes the shape of streams on a map, flowing inward from all sides into a lake or low area. Inland drainage describes the end point: the water never reaches the sea. A centripetal pattern can drain into a lake that has an outlet.
- Ephemeral river: this word is about when a river flows (only in the rains). It is not about where the river ends.
Related concepts
- Narmada river
- Marble Rocks and Dhuandhar Falls
- Tapi river
- Narmada and Tapi as west-flowing rivers
- West-flowing rivers of the Peninsula
- Jog Falls
- Luni river