Drainage, basins and patterns

Describe drainage patterns and classify India's rivers.

Drainage is the flow of water through well-defined channels; the network is a drainage system.

A river basin is a large catchment, a watershed a small one; both are units for planning.

Patterns: dendritic, radial (Amarkantak), trellis, centripetal.

77 per cent of India's drainage goes to the Bay of Bengal, 23 per cent to the Arabian Sea.

Major basins over 20,000 sq km (14), medium 2,000-20,000 (44), minor under 2,000.

Main classification: Himalayan and Peninsular drainage.

Water follows the slope and makes patterns.

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