With reference to Mekong river, which of the following statement/s is/are correct? 1. Mekong rises in Tibetan Plateau 2. Mekong delta is situated in Southern Cambodia. Select the correct answer using the codes given below.
- (a)1 only
- (b)2 only
- (c)Both 1 and 2
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2
Correct — A, 1 only. Statement 1 is true: the Mekong rises high on the Tibetan Plateau (its headwaters lie in the Tibetan/Qinghai highlands of China) and then flows south through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Statement 2 is false: the Mekong Delta lies in SOUTHERN VIETNAM (around Can Tho, where the river empties into the South China Sea), not in southern Cambodia. So only statement 1 is correct.
- (b)2 only — Reverses the truth — statement 2 (delta in southern Cambodia) is the wrong one; the delta is in southern Vietnam.
- (c)Both 1 and 2 — Statement 2 is incorrect, so both cannot be right; the delta is not in Cambodia.
- (d)Neither 1 nor 2 — Statement 1 is correct — the Mekong does rise on the Tibetan Plateau — so 'neither' is wrong.
The Mekong is one of Asia's great trans-boundary rivers. It originates on the Tibetan Plateau and runs about 4,300 km through six countries — China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam — before its distributaries fan out into the Mekong Delta and reach the South China Sea. The delta, a vast rice-growing lowland, lies in southern Vietnam; Cambodia holds the middle course and the Tonle Sap system, not the delta.
Statement 1 is a familiar 'rivers that rise in Tibet' fact (like the Brahmaputra, Salween/Irrawaddy region and Indus). Statement 2 sets a trap by placing the delta in Cambodia, the country just upstream; remember the delta = southern Vietnam. Since one statement is true and one false, only 1 is correct.
- Mekong rises on the Tibetan Plateau (China) — statement 1 correct
- Flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam
- Mekong Delta is in SOUTHERN VIETNAM — statement 2 incorrect
- The river empties into the South China Sea
- Placing the Mekong Delta in Cambodia instead of southern Vietnam
- Confusing the sea it drains into (South China Sea, not Andaman Sea)
UPSC and UPPSC test the Mekong via its source, the countries it runs through, and the sea/delta it ends in — often as matching or statement-based items.
The great Asian river Mekong does not run through
- (a) China
- (b) Malaysia
- (c) Cambodia
- (d) Laos
Answer(b) Malaysia
Same concept — the Mekong's course; it rises in China (Tibet) and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, never Malaysia.
The Brahmaputra, Irrawady and Mekong rivers originate in Tibet and flow through narrow and parallel mountain ranges in their upper reaches. Of these rivers, Brahmaputra makes a "U" turn in its course to flow into India. This "U" turn is due to
- (a) uplift of folded Himalayan series
- (b) syntaxis bending of geologically young Himalayas
- (c) geo-tectonic disturbance in the tertiary folded mountain chains
- (d) Both (a) and (b) above
Answer(b) syntaxis bending of geologically young Himalayas
Its premise directly states the Mekong originates in Tibet — the same fact as statement 1 here (Mekong rises on the Tibetan Plateau).
- practice — not a real PYQ
The Mekong river finally drains into which of the following?
- (a)Andaman Sea
- (b)Bay of Bengal
- (c)South China Sea
- (d)Gulf of Thailand
Answer(c) South China Sea — via its delta in southern Vietnam.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which of the following countries does the Mekong river NOT flow through?
- (a)Laos
- (b)Cambodia
- (c)Malaysia
- (d)Vietnam
Answer(c) Malaysia — the Mekong flows through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.