| Yarlung Tsangpo yar klung gtsang po ཡར་ཀླུང་གཙང་པོ། 雅鲁藏布江 | |
|---|---|
 Yarlung Tsangpo,Shigatse Prefecture | |
 | |
| Location | |
| Country | China (flows intoIndia as theBrahmaputra and later intoBangladesh as theJamuna) |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | Angsi Glacier inShigatse,Tibet Autonomous Region, China |
| • coordinates | 30°22′3″N81°59′42″E / 30.36750°N 81.99500°E /30.36750; 81.99500 |
| • elevation | 5,210 m (17,090 ft) |
| Length | 1,125 km (699 mi) |
| Basin size | 241,691 km2 (93,317 mi2)[1] |
| Discharge | |
| • average | 2,898.9 m3/s (102,370 cu ft/s)[1] |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Raka Tsangpo,Nimu Maqu,Lhasa,Nyang |
| Transboundary crossing | Line of Actual Control 29°7′42″N95°1′21″E / 29.12833°N 95.02250°E /29.12833; 95.02250 535 m (1,755 ft) elevation |
TheYarlung Tsangpo, also calledYarlung Zangbo (Tibetan:ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་,Wylie:yar kLungs gTsang po,ZWPY:Yarlung Zangbo) andYalu Zangbu River (Chinese:雅鲁藏布江;pinyin:Yǎlǔzàngbù Jiāng) is the upper course ofBrahmaputra River. It flows through theTibet Autonomous Region of China andArunachal Pradesh state of India. It is the longest river of Tibet and thefifth longest in China.[2] The upper section is also calledDangque Zangbu meaning "Horse River".[3][4]
Originating from theAngsi Glacier in western Tibet, southeast ofMount Kailash andLake Manasarovar, it later forms the South Tibet Valley. When leaving theTibetan Plateau, the river forms the world's largest and deepest canyon,Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon.[5] before passing into Arunachal Pradesh where it gets far wider and is called theSiang. After reachingAssam, the river becomes known as theBrahmaputra.
The Yarlung Tsangpo River is the highest major river in the world. Its longest tributary is theNyang River. Majortributaries of Yarlung Tsangpo include Nyangchu River,Lhasa River,Nyang River, andParlung Tsangpo.
In Tibet the river flows through the South Tibet Valley, which is approximately 1,200 kilometres (750 mi) long and 300 kilometres (190 mi) wide. The valley descends from 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level to 3,000 metres (9,800 ft).[6][7] As it descends, the surrounding vegetation changes from colddesert to aridsteppe to deciduous scrub vegetation. It ultimately changes intoconifer andrhododendron forest. The tree line is approximately at 3,200 metres (10,500 ft).[8]Sedimentary sandstone rocks found near the Tibetan capital ofLhasa contain grains ofmagnetic minerals that record the Earth's alternatingmagnetic field current.[9]
The basin of the Yarlung River, bounded by theHimalayas in the south andKang Rinpoche andNyenchen Tanglha Mountains in the north, has less severe climate than the adjacent northern (and higher-altitude) parts of Tibet, and is home to most of the population of theTibetan Autonomous Region.
TheYarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon, formed by a horse-shoe bend in the river where it leaves theTibetan Plateau and flows aroundNamcha Barwa, is the deepest, and possibly longest canyon in the world.[10]
The Yarlung Tsangpo River has three major waterfalls in its course.[11] The largest waterfall of the river, the "Hidden Falls", was not publicized in the West until 1998, when its sighting by Westerners was briefly hailed as a "discovery".[12] They were even portrayed as the discovery of the great falls which had been the topic of stories told to early westerners by Tibetan hunters andBuddhist monks, but which had never been found by Western explorers at the time.[13] The Chinese authorities contradicted, however, saying that Chinese geographers, who explored the gorge from 1973 on, had already taken pictures of the falls in 1987 from a helicopter.[14][15]
Since the 1990s the Yarlung Tsangpo River has been the destination of a number of teams that engage in exploration andwhitewater kayaking.[16] The river is noted for its extreme conditions.[17] The first attempt to run was made in 1993 by a Japanese group who lost one member on the river.
In October 1998, akayaking expedition sponsored by theNational Geographic Society attempted to navigate theYarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon. Troubled by unanticipated high water levels, the expedition ended in tragedy with the death of expert kayakerDoug Gordon.[18]
In January–February 2002, an international group consisting of Scott Lindgren, Steve Fisher, Mike Abbott, Allan Ellard, Dustin Knapp, and Johnnie and Willie Kern, completed the first descent of the upper Tsangpo gorge section.[19]
In November 2020, the chairman ofPowerChina announced the start of a hydroelectric project on the Yarlung Tsangpo which would be the world's largest.[20]
In December 2024, China approved the construction of theMedog Hydropower Station, intended to be the world's largest hydropower dam on the Yarlung Tsangpo; the project would cost about 1 trillion yuan ($127bn; £109.3bn).[21][22] The project officially commenced construction on 19 July 2025.[23] India and Bangladesh have raised concerns about the impact in their countries when the dam becomes operational after 2030.[24]
The river that carries the drainage of Nari-Mangyul and Utsang to the south-eastward is called by the Tibetans the rTachok Tsangspo, i.e. Horse River. The best of my Ladak informants could not assure me positively of its course below Lhasa, but assented fully to its identification with the main trunk of the Brahmaputra river, as asserted (and all but established) by the geographers of Bengal.
Little attention was paid to the Chinese team that had been striking for the falls during that fateful trekking season. They claimed to have reached the falls before Baker but were ignored for the most part by everybody except their government who decided to close the gorge to westerners.
| Yangtze system | |
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| Yellow system | |
| Pearl system | |
| Heilongjiang system | |
| Huai system | |
| Hai system | |
| Liao system | |
| Endorheic systems | |
| Other major rivers | |
| Major canals | |
