The Gabdak River (also known as the Narayani and the Gandak) is one of the major rivers of Nepal and a left bank tributary of the Ganges in India. In Nepal the river is notable for its deep gorge through the Himalayas. It has a total catchment area of 46,300 square kilometers (17,900 sq mi), most of it in Nepal. The basin also contains three of the world's 14 mountains over 8,000 metres (26,000 ft), Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna I. Dhaulagiri is the highest point of the Gandaki basin. It lies between the similar Kosi system to the east and the Karnali (Ghaghara) system to the west.
Length 630 km (391 mi)
Mouth Ganges
Source Nhubine Himal Glacier
Countries Tibet (China), Nepal, India
Glaciers, glacial lakes and glacial lake outburst floods
The Gandaki river basin is reported to contain 1025 glaciers and 338 lakes. These contribute substantially to the lean season flows of the river.
Glacier lakes, among the most hazardous features of high mountains, are usually formed behind dams of moraine debris left behind by retreating glaciers, a trend that is observed all over the world. Even though glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) events have been occurring in Nepal for many decades, the Dig Tsho glacier outburst, which took place in 1985, has triggered detailed study of this phenomenon. In 1996, the Water and Energy Commission Secretariat (WECS) of Nepal reported that five lakes were potentially dangerous, namely, Dig Tsho, Imja, Lower Barun, Tsho Rolpa, and Thulagi, all lying above 4,100 metres (13,500 ft). A recent study done by ICIMOD and UNEP (UNEP, 2001) reported 27 potentially dangerous lakes in Nepal. In ten of them GLOF events have occurred in the past few years and some have been regenerating after the event.
Thulagi glacier The Thulagi glacier, which is located in the Upper Marsyangdi River basin, is one out of the two moraine-dammed lakes (supra-glacial lakes), identified as a potentially dangerous lake. The KfW, Frankfurt, the BGR (Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany), in cooperation with the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology in Kathmandu, have carried out studies on the Thulagi Glacier and have concluded that even assuming the worst case, a disastrous outburst of the lake can be excluded in the near future.
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