Gangavalli River is one of the many small rivers that originates and flows entirely within the western part of state of

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The

National Highway 17 (India) National Highway 17 (NH 17) is a National Highway in India running from Sevoke in West Bengal to Guwahati in Assam. Route It starts from its junction with NH-10 at * Sevoke, Darjeeling district and connects * Mongpong, Kalimpong dis ...

continues on the Hosur Bridge the bridge built over Gangavali River and the road continues to split the

Ankola Ankola is a Town Municipal Council and a taluka in Uttara Kannada district of the Indian state of Karnataka. The name of the place is derived from a forest shrub Ankola grown on the coastal hill side and worshiped by the Halakki Vokkaligas a ...

and

Kumta Kumta is a town and taluk in the Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka, India. It is one of the important stations along the Konkan Railway line running between Mumbai and Mangalore. Geography The city of Kumta is located on the Arabia ...

regions to connect

Uttar Kannada Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Bela ...

district to

Dharwar Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

and

Mangalore Mangalore (), officially known as Mangaluru, is a major port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats about west of Bangalore, the state capital, 20 km north of Karnataka–Ker ...

area.

Origin and topography

Gangavalli River (also called Bedthi River) originates from the Western Ghats the south of Dharwad (Near Someshwara temple) as Shalmala and flows in the west direction to meet the

Arabian sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

just after the Ganga temple. Here the River embraces the name Gangavalli from the Goddess Ganga; the village in this area carries the same name Gangavalli. This stream joins at

Kalghatgi Kalaghatagi (also known as Kalghatgi) is an administrative division, or Taluka, in the Dharwad district of the Indian state of Karnataka. Tourism Kalaghatagi Gram Devi Jatra, an ancient Taluk in the Dharwad District, is a village in Kalaghata ...

about lower down to the Bedthi River that takes its birth near

Hubli Hubli, officially known as Hubballi, is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka. The twin cities Hubli–Dharwad form the second largest city in the state by area and population and the largest city in North Karnataka. Hubli is in Dharwad distr ...

. River then flows west and then south-west for a total distance of 69 km. This river has a

catchment A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, t ...

area of and has a total length of . On its course towards the Arabian Sea, the river falls from a height of 180 metre at a point called Magod.Manjaguni a new resort place on the western face of the Sahyadri, is significant and picturesque at the confluence of the river and the Arabian Sea during the low and high tides during full moons. The bed fall of the river is gentle for the first . After that point the river bed falls rapidly with a clear over fall of at Magod and is popularly known as The

Magod Falls Magod Falls is a group of waterfalls in Karnataka, India, where the river Bedti falls from a height of nearly in two steps. The falls are located about from the town of Yellapur and from Sirsi, in the district of Uttara Kannada, and are e ...

. Afterwards river runs in deep gorges with a steep bed falls. The Sonda (the tributary of Bedhi River) joins the river after the falls. The Ganagavalli village is away from the

town and 4 km from

Belambar Belambar is a village in Ankola, in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka state, India. It is bounded by the Arabian Sea to its west and by the Western Ghats to its east The Village's topography consists of a plain that stretches up to 2.5 ...

.Belambar magic oil for paralysis
/ref> One of the other new resort areas of the Uttar Kannada district,

Gokarna Gokarna may refer to: Places * Gokarna, Karnataka, a town in Karnataka, India * Gokarna, West Bengal, a village in West Bengal, India * Gokarnamatam, a village in Andhra Pradesh, India * Trincomalee, a city in Eastern Province, Sri Lanka also known ...

town is 4 km away in the other direction on Gangavalli road. The river flows through

Dharwad Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...

and Uttar Kannada districts. The river has dense evergreen and semi-evergreen forests along its path.

Tributaries

Bedthi, Shalmali and Sonda

Geology

Soils in the Gangavalli basin are mainly laterite in origin and tend to be reddish to brownish in colour. The various type of soil found here is golden sand,

clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...

loamy Loam (in geology and soil science) is soil composed mostly of sand (particle size > ), silt (particle size > ), and a smaller amount of clay (particle size < ). By weight, its mineral composition is about 40–40–20% concentration of sand–sil ...

, clayey, clayey-skeletal, and loamy.

Climate

Rainfall

With a major part of the river lying in the Western Ghats, the Ganagavalli river basin receives a large amount of rainfall. Mean annual rainfall ranges from to . About 95% of the rainfall is received during the month of June to September (July being the rainiest) when the southwest

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annual latitudinal oscil ...

is at its climax. There is some rainfall in the post monsoon season in the form of thundershowers mostly during October and some rainfall also occurs during the summer months of April and May. During heavy monsoons, the river floods to nearby villages and dumps dirt and dead animals to lands creating havoc to villagers.

Temperature

April is usually the hottest month with the mean daily maximum temperature at 36˚C and the mean daily minimum at 22˚C.

Humidity

During the morning, the relative humidity exceeds 75% for most times of the year. During the months of monsoon, the relative humidity during the afternoons is approximately 60%. During the driest months (January to March), the relative humidity in the afternoon is less than 35%.

References

External links

Ganagavalli River

Gangavalli River Bank

River systems in Karnataka
{{Western Ghats Rivers of Karnataka Rivers of the Western Ghats Rivers of India