Features at some significant estuaries of India

Abstract

The river basins of India are classified into three groups on the basis of catchment areas: (1) above 20,000 km sup(2), (2) 2,000-20,000 km sup(2) and (3) less than 2,000 km sup(2). The total number of rivers under first category are 14, 44 in the second and 162 in the third. Most of the studies on various aspects have been confined to very few of these, and that too, mostly to minor ones. Very little work has been carried out from many of the estuaries of the major rivers. An overview of the available publications on many of the estuaries is attempted. The studies on biology, ecology, chemistry and physics are reviewed.