Gangotri Glacier

Coordinates: 30°50′N 79°10′E / 30.833°N 79.167°E / 30.833; 79.167
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Gangotri
Valley glacier
LocationIndia
Coordinates30°50′N 79°10′E / 30.833°N 79.167°E / 30.833; 79.167
Map

Gangotri glacier (

Shivling, Thalay Sagar, Meru, and Bhagirathi III. It flows roughly northwest, originating in a cirque below Chaukhamba
, the highest peak of the group.

The

Tapovan
meadow.

The Gangotri glacier is a traditional

2013 North Indian Floods
destroyed much of this trail, and access is now a little difficult beyond Chirbhasa due to trail deterioration and a 2 km wide rockfall site.

Gomukh

Geology

Gaumukh
, Gangotri glacier.

It is a valley-type glacier, situated in the

snow-bridges, and dead ice mounds, and erosional features like pyramidal and conical peaks, serrated ridge crests, glacial troughs, smooth rock walls and tails, waterfalls, rock basins, gullies and glacial lakes. All along the Gangotri glacier, several longitudinal and transverse crevasses are formed along which ice blocks have broken down. The ablation zone of the Gangotri glacier is covered by a thick pile of supraglacial moraines and is characterized by several ice sections, melting into pools of supraglacial lakes
. Because of subsidence and the fast degenerating nature of the glacier, its centre is full of supraglacial lakes. In this part of higher Himalaya, glacial melt-water dominates the fluvial system.

The total ice cover is approximately 200 km2 and has about 20 km3 of ice in volume.[3]

Tributaries

This glacier has three main tributaries, namely Raktvarn (15.90 km), Chaturangi (including Kalindi bamak) (22.45 km) and Kirti (11.05 km) and more than 18 smaller tributary glaciers The Raktvarn system contains 7 tributary glaciers; among them Thelu, Swetvarn, Nilambar and Pilapani are important. Similarly the Seeta, Suralaya and Vasuki are the major tributaries which make up the Chaturangi system, while the Kirti system is made up of only three tributary glaciers. Besides these three major tributary systems, some other tributary glaciers of this area drain directly into the Gangotri glacier; among them Swachand, Miandi, Sumeru and Ghanohim are important. Four other glaciers, Maitri, Meru, Bhrigupanth and Manda drain into the river Bhagirathi. The total glacierized area of the catchment is 258.56 km2, out of which the Gangotri system comprises 109.03 km2, followed by Chaturangi (72.91 km2), Raktvarn (45.34 km2) and Kirti (31.28 km2). The remaining four glaciers contain 29.41 km2 of glacierized area; among them maximum contribution is Bhirgupanth glacier (14.95 km2).

Retreat

Retreat of Gangotri Glacier

NASA, in conjunction with scientists from United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC), is developing a global inventory of all the world's glaciers to help researchers track each glacier's history. According to them, the Gangotri glacier, currently 30.2 km long and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide, is one of the largest in the Himalayas. This glacier has been constantly receding since measurements began in 1780. Data for 61 years (1936–96) showed the total recession of Gangotri glacier as 1147 m, with an average rate of 19 m per year.[4] However over the last 25 years into the 21st century it has retreated more than 850 meters (34 meters per year),[5] and 76 meters between 1996 and 1999 (25 meters per year)[6][7]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Gyan Marwah. "Ganges - A River of No Return?". the-south-asian.com. Archived from the original on 16 September 2013. Retrieved 24 June 2007.
  2. ^ Metcalfe, R. P., Geol. Soc. London, 1993, 74, 495–509.
  3. ^ Vohra, C. P., in The Himalayas: Aspects of Change (eds Lall, J. S. and Moddie, A. D.), Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1981, pp 138–151.
  4. ^ Ajay K. Naithani, H. C. Nainwal, K. K. Sati and C. Prasad: Geomorphological evidences of retreat of the Gangotri glacier and its characteristics. Current Science, 2001, Vol. 80, No. 1, 87-94. http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/jan102001/87.pdf Archived 17 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Sharma, M. C. and Owen, L. A., J. Quat. Sci. Rev., 1996, 15, 335–365.
  6. ^ article at Earth Observatory driven by NASA Archived 31 December 2009 at the Wayback Machine, found below a sat image illustration dated 2001
  7. doi:10.5194/isprs-annals-IV-5-325-2018
    .

References

External links

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