The Musi River ( id, Sungai Musi) is a river in Southern Sumatra,

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

.Air Musi
- Geonames.org. It flows from south-west to north-east, from the

Barisan Mountains The Bukit Barisan or the Barisan Mountains are a mountain range on the western side of Sumatra, Indonesia, covering nearly 1,700 km (1,050 mi) from the north to the south of the island. The Bukit Barisan range consists primarily of volca ...

range that form the backbone of Sumatra, in

Kepahiang Regency Kepahiang is a regency in Bengkulu Province of Indonesia. It is located on the island of Sumatra. It covers an area of 710.11 km2, of which a high percentage (27%) is still forest. It had a population of 124,865 at the 2010 CensusBiro Pusat Statis ...

Bengkulu Bengkulu is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southwest coast of Sumatra. It was formed on 18 November 1968 by separating out the former Bencoolen Residency area from the province of South Sumatra under Law No. 9 of 1967 and was fi ...

Province, to the

Bangka Strait Bangka Strait is the strait that separates the island of Sumatra from Bangka Island ( id, Pulau Bangka) in the Java Sea, Indonesia. The strait is about long, with a width varying from about to . See also * Japanese cruiser Ashigara * List of st ...

that forms an extension of the

South China Sea The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by the shores of South China (hence the name), in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Ph ...

. It is about 750 kilometers long, and drains most of

South Sumatra South Sumatra ( id, Sumatra Selatan) is a province of Indonesia. It is located on the southeast of the island of Sumatra, The province spans and had a population of 8,467,432 at the 2020 Census. The capital of the province is Palembang. The prov ...

province. After flowing through

Palembang Palembang () is the capital city of the Indonesian province of South Sumatra. The city proper covers on both banks of the Musi River on the eastern lowland of southern Sumatra. It had a population of 1,668,848 at the 2020 Census. Palembang ...

, the provincial capital, it joins with several other rivers, including the

Banyuasin River The Banyuasin River (, ) is a river in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, about 500 km northwest of the capital Jakarta.A ...

, to form a delta near the town of Sungsang. The river,

dredge Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...

d to a depth of about 6.5 meters, is navigable by large ships as far as Palembang, which is the site of major port facilities used primarily for the export of

petroleum Petroleum, also known as crude oil, or simply oil, is a naturally occurring yellowish-black liquid mixture of mainly hydrocarbons, and is found in geological formations. The name ''petroleum'' covers both naturally occurring unprocessed crud ...

rubber Rubber, also called India rubber, latex, Amazonian rubber, ''caucho'', or ''caoutchouc'', as initially produced, consists of polymers of the organic compound isoprene, with minor impurities of other organic compounds. Thailand, Malaysia, and ...

and

palm oil Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil derived from the mesocarp (reddish pulp) of the fruit of the oil palms. The oil is used in food manufacturing, in beauty products, and as biofuel. Palm oil accounted for about 33% of global oils produced fr ...

. This river system, especially around the city of Palembang, was the heart of eponymous 7th to 13th century

Srivijaya Srivijaya ( id, Sriwijaya) was a Buddhist thalassocratic empire based on the island of Sumatra (in modern-day Indonesia), which influenced much of Southeast Asia. Srivijaya was an important centre for the expansion of Buddhism from the 7th ...

n empire. The river mouth was the site of the

SilkAir Flight 185 SilkAir Flight 185 was a scheduled international passenger flight operated by a Boeing 737-300 from Soekarno–Hatta International Airport in Jakarta, Indonesia to Changi Airport in Singapore that crashed into the Musi River near Palembang, Su ...

plane crash which killed all 104 passengers and crew on board in 1997.

Geography

The river flows in the southern area of

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

with a predominantly

tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical climate sub-type usually found within 10 to 15 degrees latitude of the equator. There are some other areas at higher latitudes, such as the coast of southe ...

(designated as ''Af'' in the Köppen-Geiger climate classification). The annual average temperature in the area is 24 °C. The warmest month is July, when the average temperature is around 26 °C, and the coldest is February, at 22 °C. The average annual rainfall is 2579 mm. The wettest month is April, with an average of 344 mm rainfall, and the driest is September, with 99 mm rainfall.

Gallery

COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Gezicht over Palembang aan de Musi rivier TMnr 20018417.jpg, The Musi River and Palembang COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Gezicht op de Moesi rivier bij Palembang TMnr 10010493.jpg, The Musi River by Palembang South Sumatra, Palembang, Ampera bridge.jpg, The Ampera Bridge on Musi River, Palembang Musi watershed one layer.svg, watershed of the Musi River

References

External links

*
Banyuasin Musi River Delta conservation information from the ARCBC
{{Coord, 2, 20, 37, S, 104, 55, 21, E, region:ID-SS_type:waterbody_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Rivers of South Sumatra Rivers of Indonesia