Origin, Drainage and Mouth
The 960 km long Chambal River originates from the Singar Chouri peak in the northern slopes of the Vindhyan escarpment, 15 km West-South-West of Mhow in Indore District in Madhya Pradesh state, at an elevation of about 843 m. The river flows first in a northerly direction in Madhya Pradesh(M.P.) for a length of about 346 km and then in a generally north-easterly direction for a length of 225 km through Rajasthan. The Chambal flows for another 217 km between M.P. and Rajasthan(Raj) and further 145 km between M.P. and Uttar Pradesh(U.P.). It enters U.P. and flows for about 32 km before joining the Yamuna River in Etawah District at an elevation of 122 m, to form a part of the greater Gangetic drainage system.
From the source down to its junction with the Yamuna, the Chambal has a fall of about 732 m. Out of this, around 305 m is within the first 16 km reach from its source. It falls for another 195 m in the next 338 km, where it enters the gorge past the Chaurasigarh Fort. In the next 97 km of its run from the Chaurasigarh Fort to Kota city, the bed falls by another 91 m. In the rest of its 523 km run, the river passes through the flat terrain of the Malwa Plateau and later in the Gangetic Plain with an average gradient of 0.21 m/km.
The Chambal is a rainfed catchment and the total area drained up to its confluence with the Yamuna is 143, 219 km2. The Chambal drainage area resembles a rectangle up to the junction of the Parvathi and Banas Rivers with the Chambal flowing along its major axis. The Chambal Basin lies between latitudes 22° 27' N and 27° 20' N and longitudes 73° 20' E and 79° 15' E. On its south, east and west, the basin is bounded by the Vindhyan mountain ranges and on the north-west by the Aravallis. Below the confluence of the Parvathi and Banas, the catchment becomes narrower and elongated. In this reach, it is bounded by the Aravalli mountain ranges on the North and the Vindhyan hill range on the south.
The Vindhyan scarps, in the northwest, flank the left bank of the Chambal, and subsequently, is mainly drained by it. The Chambal rising within about 6 km of the Narmada river, appears as a consequent on the Mesozoic surface, superimposed on the scarps, and cuts straight through them, with subsequent tributaries on the softer shales. The River Chambal and its tributaries Kali Sindh and Parbati have formed a triangular alluvial basin, about 200–270 m above the narrow trough of the lower Chambal in Kota. It is a typical anterior-drainage pattern river, being much older than the rivers Yamuna and Ganges, into which it eventually flows.
The tributaries of the Chambal include Shipra, Choti Kalisindh, Sivanna, Retam, Ansar, Kalisindh, Banas, Parbati, Seep, Kuwari, Kuno, Alnia, Mej, Chakan, Parwati, Chamla, Gambhir, Lakhunder, Khan, Bangeri, Kedel and Teelar.
According to Crawford (1969), the Chambal river valley is part of the Vindhyan system which consists of massive sandstone, slate and limestone, of perhaps pre-Cambrian age, resting on the surface of older rocks. Hillocks and plateaus represent the major landforms of the Chambal valley. The Chambal basin is characterised by an undulating floodplain, gullies and ravines. The Hadauti plateau in Rajasthan occurs in the upper catchment of the Chambal River to the southeast of the Mewar Plains. It occurs with the Malwa plateau in the east. Physiographically, it can be divided into Vindhyan scarp land and Deccan Lava (Malwa) plateau. According to Heron (1953), the eastern pediplain, occurring between the Vindhyan plateau and the Aravalli hill range, contains a thin veneer of Quaternary sediments, reworked soil and river channel fills. At least two erosional surfaces can be recognised within the pediplain are the Tertiary age. The Vindhyan upland, the adjoining Chambal valley and the Indo-Gangetic alluvial tract (older alluvium) are of Pleistocene to Sub-recent age. Badland topography is a characteristic feature of the Chambal valley, whereas kankar has extensively developed in the older alluvium.
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