A beel (

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

and Assamese: বিল) is a

billabong In Australian English, a billabong ( ) is a small body of water, usually permanent. It is usually an oxbow lake caused by a change in course of a river or creek, but other types of small lakes, ponds or waterholes are also called billabongs ...

or a lake-like

wetland A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

with static water as opposed to moving water in rivers and canals - typically called in Bengali, in 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 which goes through India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China." is a trans-boundary rive ...

Brahmaputra The Brahmaputra is a trans-boundary river which flows through Southwestern China, Northeastern India, and Bangladesh. It is known as Brahmaputra or Luit in Assamese, Yarlung Tsangpo in Tibetan, the Siang/Dihang River in Arunachali, and ...

flood plains A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high discharge.Goudie, ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous country in the world and among the List of countries and dependencies by ...

, and the

India India, officially the Republic of India, 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 by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n states of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

and

Assam Assam (, , ) is a state in Northeast India, northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra Valley, Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . It is the second largest state in Northeast India, nor ...

. The term owes its origins to the word of the same pronunciation meaning "pond" and "lake" in the

and Assamese languages.

Formation

Typically, beels are formed by inundation of low-lying lands during

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing, where some water gets trapped even after flood waters recede back from the

flood plain A floodplain or flood plain or bottomlands is an area of land adjacent to a river. Floodplains stretch from the banks of a river channel to the base of the enclosing valley, and experience flooding during periods of high Discharge (hydrolog ...

s. Beels may also be caused by filling up of low-lying areas during

rain Rain is a form of precipitation where water drop (liquid), droplets that have condensation, condensed from Water vapor#In Earth's atmosphere, atmospheric water vapor fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is res ...

s, especially during the

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

season. There are different causes for the formation of beels. A string of beels is indicative of there being the remains of a great river that deserted its channel, moving to a new one elsewhere.

Haor, Baor

In north eastern Bangladesh there are large water bodies called

haor A () is a wetland ecosystem in the north eastern part of Bangladesh which physically is a bowl or saucer shaped shallow Depression (geology), depression, also known as a backswamp.MK Alam; ''Wave attack in Haor areas of Bangladesh and cement co ...

s. A haor is a bowl shaped depression which is flooded every year during

. Throughout the rainy season a haor is such a vast stretch of turbulent water that it is thought of as a sea, within which the villages appear as islands. It remains under water for seven months of the year. During the dry season water drains out leaving small shallow lakes exposing rich soil extensively cultivated for rice. In greater

Comilla Comilla (), officially spelled Cumilla, is a metropolis on the banks of the Gomti River in eastern Bangladesh. Comilla was one of the cities of ancient Bengal. It was once the capital of Tripura kingdom. Comilla Airport is located in the Duli ...

, Faridpur,

Dhaka Dhaka ( or ; , ), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, formerly known as Dacca, is the capital city, capital and list of cities and towns in Bangladesh, largest city of Bangladesh. It is one of the list of largest cities, largest and list o ...

and

Pabna Pabna () is a city of Pabna District, Bangladesh and the administrative capital of the eponymous Pabna District. It is on the north bank of the Padma River and has a population of about . Etymology * According to the historian Radharaman Saha ...

districts the beel is sometimes referred to as baor.

Location of important beels

Bangladesh

Bangladesh has thousands of beels, with the best-known being

Chalan Beel Chalan Beel () is a wetland in the Sirajganj District, Sirajganj, Natore District, Natore and Pabna District, Pabna districts of Bangladesh. It is a large inland Depression (geology), depression, marshy in character, with rich flora and fauna. ...

Beel Dakatia Beel Dakatia or Dakater Beel is the second largest beel in Bangladesh. It is located in Khulna-Jessore region. In the 1980s, this beel became the curse of the people who lived upon this beel. Geography Bil Dakatiya and its adjacent areas are comp ...

, Gopalganj-Khulna Beel, Meda Beel, Aila beel, Dekhar beel, Kuri beel, Erali beel and Arial Beel.Abdul Wahab Akonda
BANGLADESH
, International Water Management Institute; ''Retrieved: 2007-12-04'' In the central part

, important beels are Katla, Chatal, Nagarkanda, and Chanda. Most of the large beels have shrunk a great deal in recent decades. Regionwise, in the northwest of Bangladesh some of the larger beels are Bara Beel in Pirganj, Tagrai Beel in

Kurigram Kurigram is a city in northern Bangladesh. It is the headquarters of Kurigram District and Kurigram Sadar Upazila. Etymology The original name of Kurigram was Kuriganj before it was renamed in 1984. The name ''Kurigram'' comes from ''Kuri'' ...

, Lunipukur in

Rangpur Rangpur may refer to: Places In Bangladesh *Rangpur Division, one of the eight administrative divisions of Bangladesh. *Rangpur District, district of Bangladesh in Rangpur Division. *Rangpur, Bangladesh, metropolis and a major city in northern ...

, Bara Mirzapur Beel in

Narail Narail is a city in the Khulna division of southwestern Bangladesh Bangladesh, officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, eighth-most populous cou ...

and Keshpathar in

Bogra Bogra (), List of renamed places in Bangladesh, officially Bogura, is a city located in Bogra District, Rajshahi Division, Bangladesh. The city is a major commercial hub in North Bengal, Northern Bangladesh. It is the second largest city in te ...

. The old river course of Atrai has beels. In the southern region of Bangladesh, important beels are Boyra, Dakatia, Bara, Kola, Patla, Chatal and Srirampur.

Assam

, Deepor Beel is a permanent, freshwater lake, in a former channel of the Brahmaputra river, to the south of the main river south-west of

Guwahati Guwahati () the largest city of the Indian state of Assam, and also the largest metropolis in northeastern India. Dispur, the capital of Assam, is in the circuit city region located within Guwahati and is the seat of the Government of Assam. Th ...

. It has great biological and environmental importance besides being the only major storm water storage basin for the Guwahati city. The beel is endowed with rich floral and faunal diversity. In addition to huge congregation of residential water birds, the Deepor ecosystem harbours large number of migratory waterfowl each year. Deepor Beel has been designated as a Ramsar site in November 2002.

References

''Birding opportunities at Deepor Beel''
{{pond Lakes Depressions (geology) Landforms of India Ponds Wetlands of Bangladesh