Published on 09 Mar 2025
• Frequent mass wasting in Tibet’s Sedongpu Gully catchment has been a cause for worry in India.
• Mass wasting is the gravity-influenced movement of rock and soil down a slope.
• A gully is a landform created by erosion from running water, mass movement or both.
• The Sedongpu Gully, in the catchment of the Sedongpu glacier and its valley, is 11 km long and covers 66.8 sq. km.
• It drains into the Yarlung Zangbo, or the Tsangpo River, near where it takes a sharp turn called the Great Bend — while flowing around Mt. Namcha Barwa.
• The Great Bend is close to Tibet’s border with Arunachal Pradesh, where the Tsangpo flows as the Siang River.
Mass Wasting
gully
Sedongpu glacier
erosion
mass movements
Tsangpo River
himalaya