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Gangotri (
Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...
and hi, गंगोत्री) is located in Uttarkashi District,
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...
in a region bordering
Tibet Tibet (; ''Böd''; ) is a region in East Asia, covering much of the Tibetan Plateau and spanning about . It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people. Also resident on the plateau are some other ethnic groups such as Monpa people, ...
. This glacier, one of the primary sources of the
Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
, has a volume of over 27 cubic kilometers. The glacier is about 30 kilometres (19 miles) long and 2 to 4 km (1 to 2 mi) wide. Around the glacier are the peaks of the
Gangotri Group The Gangotri Group of mountains is a subdivision of the Garhwal Himalaya in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand. It rings the Gangotri Glacier, and contains peaks that are notable either for their religious significance to Hindus, for their ...
, including several peaks notable for extremely challenging climbing routes, such as Shivling, Thalay Sagar, Meru, and Bhagirathi III. It flows roughly northwest, originating in a
cirque A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landf ...
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 from the town of
Gangotri Gangotri is a town and a ''Nagar Panchayat'' (municipality) in Uttarkashi district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. It is 99 km from Uttarkashi, the main district headquarter. It is a Hindu pilgrim town on the banks of the river Bhagirat ...
, is the precise source of the Bhagirathi river, an important
tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drai ...
of the
Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...
. Gomukh is situated near the base of Shivling; in between lies the
Tapovan (Sanskrit) comes from the two root words , meaning 'penance' and by extension 'religious mortification' and 'austerity', and more generally 'spiritual practice', and '','' meaning 'forest' or 'thicket'. then translates as 'forest of austerities ...
meadow. The Gangotri glacier is a traditional
Hindu Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...
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 (Sanskrit) comes from the two root words , meaning 'penance' and by extension 'religious mortification' and 'austerity', and more generally 'spiritual practice', and '','' meaning 'forest' or 'thicket'. then translates as 'forest of austerities ...
. One needs to trek from Gangotri till Gaumukh, passing Devgadh, Chirbhasa, Bhojwasa en route. Currently accommodation is available only at Bhojwasa, although forest check posts are present at both Chirbhasa and Bhowasa. The
2013 North Indian Floods In June 2013, a mid-day cloudburst centered on the North Indian state of Uttarakhand caused devastating floods and landslides, becoming the country's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. The rainfall received that month was far great ...
destroyed much of this trail, and access is now a little difficult beyond Chirbhasa due to trail deterioration and a 2 km wide rockfall site.


Geology

It is a valley-type glacier, situated in the Uttarkashi district of
Garhwal Garhwal may refer to the following topics associated with Uttarakhand, India: Places *Garhwal Himalaya, a sub-range of the Himalayas *Garhwal Kingdom, a former kingdom *Garhwal District (British Garhwal), a former district of British India *Garh ...
Himalaya The Himalayas, or Himalaya (; ; ), is a mountain range in Asia, separating the plains of the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau. The range has some of the planet's highest peaks, including the very highest, Mount Everest. Over 10 ...
,
Uttarakhand Uttarakhand ( , or ; , ), also known as Uttaranchal ( ; the official name until 2007), is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the "Devbhumi" (literally 'Land of the Gods') due to its religious significance and ...
and it flows to NW 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 granites, garnet mica schist, quartz biotite schist, kyanite schist, augen gneiss and banded augen gneiss. The glacier is composed of a variety of depositional features such as talus cones, snow-avalanche fans, snow-bridges, and dead ice mounds, and erosional features like pyramidal and conical peaks, serrated ridge crests, glacial troughs, smooth rock walls, crags and tails, waterfalls, rock basins, 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 supraglacial moraines and is characterized by several ice sections, melting into pools of supraglacial lakes. Because of subsidence and the fast degenerating nature of the glacier, its centre is full of supraglacial 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.


Tributaries

This glacier has three main tributaries, namely Raktvarn (15.90 km), Chaturangi (including Kalaxsyfeyfrfkdfndini 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 Thelu, Swetvarn, Nilambar and Pilapani are important. Similarly the Seeta, Suralaya 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 Swachand, Miandi, Sumeru and Ghanohim are important. Four other glaciers, Maitri, Meru, Bhrigupanth and Manda 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).


Retreat

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeedin ...
, in conjunction with scientists from
United States Geological Survey The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) and the
National Snow and Ice Data Center The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a United States information and referral center in support of polar and cryospheric research. NSIDC archives and distributes digital and analog snow and ice data and also maintains information abo ...
(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, currently 30.2 km long and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide, is one of the largest in the Himalayas. This glacier has been constantly receding since measurements began in 1780. Data for 61 years (1936–96) showed the total recession of Gangotri glacier as 1147 m, with an average rate of 19 m per year. However over the last 25 years into the 21st century it has retreated more than 850 meters (34 meters per year), and 76 meters between 1996 and 1999 (25 meters per year)


See also

*
List of glaciers A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly defo ...
* Gomukh * Bara Shigri


Notes


References

* Bali, R., Awasthi, D.D. and Tiwari, N.K.2003 Neotectonic control on the geomorphic evolution of the Gangotri Glacier Valley, Garhwal Himalaya, Gondwana Research, 2003, Vol, 6 (4) pp. 829–838. *Awasthi, D.D., Bali, R. and Tiwari, N.K. 2004. Relative dating by lichenometric and Schmidt Hammer techniques in the Gangotri glacier valley, Uttarkashi District, Uttaranchal. Spl. Pub. Pal. Soc. Ind no. 2 pp. 201– 206. *Awasthi, D.D., Bali, R. and Tiwari, N.K. 2004. Growth rate of Lichen Dimelaena Orina in the Gangotri Glacier valley, Uttarkashi District, Uttaranchal: Some Significant Observations Geol. Sur. Ind. Spl. Pub. No. 80. *Singh, Dhruv Sen 2004. Late Quaternary Morpho-Sedimentary Processes in the Gangotri Glacier Area, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Geol Surv India Spl. Pub. No.80, 2004: 97-103. * Singh, Dhruv Sen and Mishra. A. 2002. Gangotri Glacier System, Garhwal Himalaya: An analysis using GIS technique. Aspects of Geology and Environment of the Himalaya. Edited by Pant, C. C. and Sharma, A. Gyanodaya Prakashan, Nainital, India, pp 349–358. * Singh, Dhruv Sen and Mishra. A. 2002. Role of Tributary glaciers on landscape modification in the Gangotri Glacier area, Garhwal Himalaya, India. Current Science, 82 (5), 101-105. http://www.ias.ac.in/currsci/mar102002/567.pdf * Singh, Dhruv Sen and Mishra, A. 2001. Gangotri Glacier characteristics, retreat and processes of sedimentation in the Bhagirathi valley. Geological Survey of India Spl. Pub.No.65 (III), 17-20. *Lal, P.; Vaka, D. S.; Rao, Y. S. (15 November 2018). "Mapping Surface Flow Velocities of Siachen and Gangotri Glaciers Using Terrasar-X and Sentinel-1A Data by Intensity Tracking". ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences. IV-5: 325–329. doi:10.5194/isprs-annals-IV-5-325-2018.


External links


Retreat of the Gangotri Glacier
an article from NASA's Earth Observatory
Gaumukh and Gangotri Art Photos

Save Gangotri
highlights localized ecological damage and conservation efforts in the region
Geomorphological evidences of retreat of the Gangotri glacier and its characteristics
A Study by Department of Geology, HNB Garhwal University

You can see the retreat of the Gangotri glacier on pictur
gomukh141.jpg
{{Authority control Glaciers of Uttarakhand Glaciers of the Himalayas Geography of Uttarkashi district