Which of the following rivers is a Trans-Himalayan river ?

Question

UnlockIAS · Accepted Answer

Correct — B, the Sutlej. A trans-Himalayan (antecedent) river is one that rises on the Tibetan side, north of the Great Himalaya, and is older than the mountains — it kept its course, carving deep gorges, as the range rose. The Sutlej rises from Rakshastal, near Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash in Tibet (about 4,570 m), flows north-west as the Langchen/Langqên Zangbo, then turns and enters India through the Shipki La pass at Khab in Himachal Pradesh — the textbook trans-Himalayan pattern. The three great trans-Himalayan rivers of the subcontinent are the Indus, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) The Jhelum rises at the Verinag spring in the Kashmir Valley, within the Himalayas — a Himalayan river, not one that originates beyond the range in Tibet.  (c) The Ganga (as the Bhagirathi) rises from the Gangotri Glacier at Gaumukh in Uttarakhand, on the southern Himalayan slopes; it is entirely a Himalayan river, not trans-Himalayan.  (d) The Ravi rises in the Bara Bhangal area of the Himachal Himalaya and flows within Indian Himalayan territory; its source is not north of the Great Himalaya, so it is not trans-Himalayan.

Concept: Trans-Himalayan (antecedent) rivers pre-date the Himalaya: they were flowing before the range was uplifted and maintained their southward course by cutting gorges across it. Their sources lie north of the main Himalayan axis, on the Tibetan Plateau. In the Indian subcontinent the three classic examples are the Indus, the Sutlej and the Brahmaputra (Tsangpo). Purely 'Himalayan' rivers, by contrast, rise from glaciers or springs within the Himalayan ranges themselves.

State PCS 2020 Q52 — Geography PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q52 — Geography PYQ with Answer