The Chatra Gorge is a

canyon A canyon (; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), gorge or chasm, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tendency t ...

cut by the Kosi River across the Mahabharat Range in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

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, 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 plain An alluvial plain is a plain (an essentially flat landform) created by the deposition of sediment over a long period by one or more rivers coming from highland regions, from which alluvial soil forms. A ''floodplain'' is part of the process, bei ...

s forming a huge megafan covering around 16,000 km². 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