Page 139 - Super Earth Encyclopedia
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GIGANTIC SWAMP
GANGES DELTA
The Ganges and its sister river, the Brahmaputra,
flow down to the Indian Ocean from the Himalayas,
carrying vast amounts of silt swept off the mountains.
Where these rivers flow into the sea at the Bay of
Bengal, the salt water makes the silt particles clump
together and settle on the seabed in thick layers.
This extends the land into a low-lying fan called a delta.
As the rivers flow over this they divide into complex
networks of channels flanked by dense forests and
mangrove swamps. The wilder parts are known as the
Sundarbans, and are a haven for wildlife, including
tigers. But the soil is so fertile that large areas have
been turned into farmland.
AT A GLANCE
• LOCATION India and Bangladesh, at the
northern end of the Bay of Bengal
• MAXIMUM WIDTH 220 miles (354 km)
• AREA More than 41,000 sq miles
(105,000 sq km)
• SEDIMENT DEPTH 10 miles (16 km)
STATS AND FACTS
SEDIMENT POPULATION DENSITY
The delta extends
under the Bay of The Ganges carries The delta is one of
2.2 billion tons of
the world’s most
Bengal to create a sediment to the densely populated
giant submarine sea each year. regions, with 143
fan. The colossal million inhabitants.
weight of sediment
in the delta and BENGAL TIGERS DELTA EXPANSION
fan has distorted WATER WORLD
Earth’s crust. About 1,000 Bengal The delta has
tigers survive in expanded 250
the mangrove miles (400 km)
swamps of the seaward in 40
Sundarbans. million years.
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