Piyali River is a tidal estuarine river in and around the

Sundarbans Sundarbans (; pronounced ) is a mangrove forest area in the Ganges Delta formed by the confluence of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Meghna Rivers in the Bay of Bengal. It spans the area from the Hooghly River in India's state of West Bengal ...

South 24 Parganas district South 24 Parganas (Pron: pɔrɡɔnɔs; abbr. 24 PGS (S)), or sometimes South Twenty Four Parganas and Dakshin 24 Parganas, is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal, headquartered in Alipore previously, with its Zilla Parishad now in ...

in 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 ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

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 ...

. The Piyali leaves the

Bidyadhari River Bidyadhari River (also spelt Bidyadhari or simply called Bidya), is a river in the Indian state of West Bengal. It originates near Haringhata in Nadia district and then flows through Deganga, Habra and Barasat areas of North 24 Parganas before ...

below Bamanghata and flows south and south-west till it joins the Matla River about below

Canning Canning is a method of food preservation in which food is processed and sealed in an airtight container (jars like Mason jars, and steel and tin cans). Canning provides a shelf life that typically ranges from one to five years, although under ...

. The Piyali links to the Matla through the Kultala gang which also links to the Thakuran. The Sundarbans area is intersected by an intricate network of interconnecting waterways, of which the larger channels are often or more in width and run in a north-south direction. These waterways now carry little fresh water as they are mostly cut off from 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 ...

, the outflow of which has shifted from the Hooghly–Bhagirathi channels progressively eastwards since the 17th century. This is due to

subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...

of the Bengal Basin and a gradual eastward tilting of the overlying crust. The Piyali is heavily silted and most of it has been converted to low cultivated land, leaving only a narrow channel.

References

Rivers of West Bengal Geography of South 24 Parganas district Sundarbans {{India-river-stub