The Gangotri Glacier is a valley glacier in Uttarkashi district, Uttarakhand, India, near the border with Tibet, and is one of the primary sources of the Ganges river system, holding an estimated volume of more than 27 cubic kilometers of ice. It is about 30 kilometers long and 2 to 4 kilometers wide, ranging in elevation from about 4,120 to 7,000 meters, and originates in a cirque below Chaukhamba, the highest peak of the Gangotri Group, before flowing northwest past peaks including Shivling, Thalay Sagar, Meru and Bhagirathi III. Its snout, known as Gomukh or Gaumukh, marks the source of the Bhagirathi river, a headwater of the Ganges, and is an important Hindu pilgrimage site reached on foot from the town of Gangotri, about 18 kilometers away.
Sources
Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.
Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.
View At A Past Year
The atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.