A Geo-physical background of Ravi River Basin in Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

The Ravi River is one of the main River of Indus River systems and it is originates at an elevation of 4229 meters above mean sea level from Bara Bangal the most interior part of Kangra District. The River flows in a NorthWest direction for most of its course. There are 34293 streams of different orders are found in this basin in Himachal Pradesh. This basin is mostly dendritic pattern but in some places the herringbone drainage patterns are also found. The Dhauladhar and Pirpanjal are two main mountain ranges in this basin. Physiographically, the entire basin is mountainous with an altitude ranging from 559 to 5563 meters above the mean sea level. It lies between 32 0 11′30"and 33 0 01′5" north latitudes and 75 0 48′ and 77 0 45′ east longitudes. The Chamba valley is found in lower altitude, while Bara Bangal valley is lies below the source area of this River. In this basin various types of soils are found like typic-udorthents, dystric-eutrochrepts etc. Due to altitudes variation, a variety of climate is found from the semi-tropical to the semi-arctic. In this basin the Saluni formation rocks are mostly concentrated in large portion of entire basin.