Pathein River

Pathein River
ပုသိမ်မြစ်
Ngawun River
ငဝန်းမြစ်
View of Pathein from the Pathein River
Map
Location
Country Myanmar
Region Ayeyarwady Region
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationIrrawaddy River near Hinthada
 • elevation30 ft (9.1 m)
Mouth 
 • location
Andaman Sea
 • elevation
0 ft (0 m)
Length183.5 km (114.0 mi)
Basin features
CitiesLemyethna, Ngathaingchaung, Thabaung, Pathein, Ngapudaw, Hainggyi Island

The Pathein River (Burmese: ပုသိမ်မြစ်), formerly called the Bassein River, is the westernmost distributary of the Irrawaddy river in the Irrawaddy delta of Myanmar flowing through Ayeyarwady Region.[1] The river is also interchangeably known as the Ngawun River (Burmese: ငဝန်းမြစ်).[2]

Seafaring vessels are able to travel about 75 miles (121 km) inland up the Pathein River to the city of Pathein.[3] As far south as Thabaung Township, about 20 miles north of Pathein, the river becomes prone to seasonal flooding in a flood plain environment.[4]

The river also provides fresh water to the city of Pathein through a treatment plant in the village of Mayanchaung.[5]

Physiography

The river diverges from the Ayeyarwady in southeastern Ingapu Township, close to the city of Hinthada.[6] The Pathein river is part of the tide-dominated Irrawaddy delta system and has several distributaries of its own.[1] The overall Pathein distributary system carries less than 10% of the Ayeyarwady River's total discharge volume.[7] It flows southwards and empties into the Andaman Sea next to Hainggyi Island.[8]

Ecology

The mouth of the Pathein River is home to nesting beaches for five species of marine turtles, including the rare Hawksbill sea turtle and Leatherback sea turtle species.[9] Thameehla Island at the mouth of the Pathein River is known to be a major nesting ground for Green sea turtle and is the location of a conservation effort by the Department of Fisheries.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Glover, H.E.; Ogston, A.S.; Fricke, A.T.; Nittrouer, C.A.; Aung, Cherry; Thet Naing; Khin Kyu Kyu; Htike Htike (24 February 2021). "Connecting Sediment Retention to Distributary-channel Hydrodynamics and Sediment Dynamics in a Tide-dominated Delta: The Ayeyarwaddy Delta, Myanmar". Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface. 126 (3). Bibcode:2021JGRF..12605882G. doi:10.1029/2020JF005882.
  2. ^ "The Columbia Gazetteer of the World; A to G". Columbia University Press. 2008. p. 2664. ISBN 978-0231145541.
  3. ^ Myanmar Information Management Unit (September 2019). Pathein Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmya ပုသိမ်မြို့နယ် ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်လက်များ [Pathein Township Regional Information] (PDF) (Report). MIMU. Retrieved February 28, 2024.
  4. ^ Hpyo Wai Tai (23 August 2012). "Fierce Flooding Disrupts Delta Life". ReliefWeb.
  5. ^ "Outstanding students visit Pathein's landmarks". Republic of the Union of Myanmar Ministry of Information.
  6. ^ Myanmar Information Management Unit (September 2019). Ingapu Myone Daethasaingyarachatlatmya အင်္ဂပူမြို့နယ် ဒေသဆိုင်ရာအချက်လက်များ [Ingapu Township Regional Information] (PDF) (Report). MIMU. Retrieved February 28, 2022.
  7. ^ Chen, Dan; Li, Xing; Saito, Yoshiki; Liu, J. Paul; Duan, Yuanqiang; Liu, Shu'an; Zhang, Lianpeng (2020). "Recent evolution of the Irrawaddy (Ayeyarwady) Delta and the impacts of anthropogenic activities: A review and remote sensing survey". Geomorphology. 365 (107321). doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2020.10723 (inactive 13 December 2024).{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of December 2024 (link)
  8. ^ Shivananda, H (July 2011). "Sino-Myanmar Military Cooperation and its Implications for India" (PDF). Journal of Defence Studies. 5 (3). Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses: 117–127.
  9. ^ Thorbjarnarson, John; Platt, Steven; Saw Tun Khaing. "Sea Turtles in Myanmar: Past and Present". Marine Turtle Newsletter.
  10. ^ Maung Maung Lwin. "Green turtle (Chelonia mydas) nesting and conservation activity in Thameehla Island, Myanmar" (PDF). Indian Ocean Turtle Newsletter.

17°54′39″N 95°27′31″E / 17.91086°N 95.45863°E / 17.91086; 95.45863