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About
Gangotri Glacier |
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Gangotri Glacier is located in Uttarkashi District,
Uttarakhand, India in a region bordering China. This glacier
is one of the primary sources of the Ganges, is one of the
largest in the Himalayas with an estimated volume of over 27
cubic kms. The glacier is about 30 kms long and 2 to 4 km
wide. Around the glacier are the peaks of the Gangotri Group,
including several peaks notable for extremely challenging
climbing routes, such as Shivling, Thalay Sagar, Meru, and
Bhagirathi III. It flows almost northwest, originating in a
cirque below Chaukhamba, the highest peak of the group.
The terminus of the Gangotri Glacier is said to resemble a
cow's mouth and the place is called Gomukh or Gaumukh (gou,
cow + mukh, face). Gomukh, which is about 19 km from the town
of Gangotri, is the precise source of the Bhagirathi river, an
important tributary of the Ganges. Gomukh is situated near the
base of Shivling; in between lies the Tapovan meadow.
The Gangotri glacier is a traditional Hindu pilgrimage site.
Devout Hindus consider bathing in the icy waters near Gangotri
town to be a holy ritual and many made the trek to Gomukh,
with a few continuing on to Tapovan. The 2013 North Indian
Floods destroyed much of this trail, and access is now
difficult beyond Gangotri. |
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Tributaries of Gangotri Glacier |
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This
glacier has three main tributaries, namely Raktvarn (15.90 km),
Chaturangi (including Kalandini 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
Swetvarn,Thelu, Pilapani and Nilambar are important. Similarly
the Suralaya, Seeta 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 Miandi,
Sumeru, Ghanohim and Swachand are important. Four other
glaciers, Swachand Maitri, Manda, and Swachand Bhrigupanth 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). |
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Geology |
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It is
a valley-type glacier, situated in the Uttarkashi district of
Garhwal Himalaya, Uttaranchal and it flows to North-West
direction. This glacier is bound between 30°43'22"–30°55'49"
(lat.) and 79°4'41"–79°16'34" (long.), extending in height from
4120 to 7000 m.a.s.l. This area is situated north of the Main
Central Thrust (MCT) and is made up of bedrocks of quartz
biotite schist, granites, banded augen gneiss, kyanite schist,
augen gneiss and garnet mica schist. The glacier is composed of
a variety of depositional features such as snow-bridges,
snow-avalanche fans, talus cones, and dead ice mounds, and
erosional features like conical and pyramidal peaks, serrated
ridge crests, smooth rock walls, glacial troughs, crags and
tails, rock basins, waterfalls, 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 supra glacial moraines and is characterized by several
ice sections, melting into pools of supra glacial lakes. Because
of subsidence and the fast degenerating nature of the glacier,
its centre is full of supra glacial 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. |
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Retreat of Gangotri Glacier |
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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
is presently 30.2 km long and between 0.5 to 2.5 km wide,
it is one of the largest in the Himalayas. This glacier
has been continuously receding since measurements began in
1780. Data for 61 years (1936–96) show that the total
recession of Gangotri glacier is 1147 m, with the average
rate of 19 m per year. However, over the last 25 years of
the 20th century it has retreated more than 850 meters (34
meters per year), and 76 meters between 1996 and 1999 (25
meters per year). |
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