The Chatra Gorge is a
canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
cut by the
Kosi River
The Kosi or Koshi ( ne, कोशी, , hi, कोसी, ) is a transboundary river which flows through China, Nepal and India. It drains the northern slopes of the Himalayas in Tibet and the southern slopes in Nepal. From a major confluence o ...
across the
Mahabharat Range in
Nepal.
Kosi river system
The Kosi, or Sapt Kosi, drains eastern Nepal. It is known as Sapt Koshi because of the seven rivers which join together in east-central Nepal to form this river. The main rivers forming the Kosi system are – the
Sun Kosi, the
Indravati River, the
Bhote Koshi, the
Dudh Kosi
Dudh Koshi (दुधकोशी नदी, ''Milk-Koshi River'') is a river in eastern Nepal. It is the highest river in terms of elevation.
Koshi river system
The Kosi River, or Sapt Koshi, drains eastern up. It is known as Sapta Koshi becau ...
, the
Arun River,
Barun River, and
Tamur River. The combined river flows through the Chatra gorge in a southerly direction to emerge from the hills.
The Sun Kosi contributes 44 per cent of the total water in the Sapta Koshi, the Arun 37 per cent and the Tamur 19 per cent.
Of the rivers that form the Sapta Kosi, the three main tributaries, Sun Kosi, Arun and Tamur converge
at
Tribeni and enter Chatra Gorge.
The Gorge
The Chatra Gorge is about 10 km long and is about 5–8 km wide. Downstream of the gorge, the river enters the alluvial plains forming a huge megafan covering around 16,000 km
2.
[
The gorge is located at . The initial or northern portion of the gorge is at an altitude of .][Tom Woodhatch, "Nepal Handbook", p. 167, Footprint, ]
Sapta Kosi High Dam
A high dam is proposed to be built near Barahakshetra across the Sapta Kosi in the Chatra gorge. It will have a 3,000 MW power station and a barrage 8 km downstream with canals on both sides for irrigation.
References
{{Hydrography of Nepal
Canyons and gorges of Nepal