River
Son River
780 km from source to mouth · India.
IndiaFlows into Ganges
In numbers
Length
780km
Average flow
1,200m³/s
Basin
71,900km²
Drop
447m
from 493 m to 46 m
Country
1
The journey
From source to mouth
780 km of river and 16 stops on the way: 12 towns and cities on its banks, dams, bridges and the tributaries that feed it.
- 0 kmSourceat 493 m
- 52 kmKelhauri8,796 people
- 259 kmKhanr10,653 people
- 288 kmRāmpur11,936 people
- 313 kmChurhat14,962 people
- 464 kmChopan13,585 people
- 465 kmRihand Rivertributary
- 481 kmKota14,632 people
- 600 kmSaraiya8,260 people
- 620 kmJawahar Setu
- 620 kmNehru Setu
- 642 kmNāsriganj23,819 people
- 650 kmDaudnagar52,364 people
- 685 kmArwal51,849 people
- 725 kmPareo8,435 people
- 726 kmKoilwar Bridge
- 727 kmKoelwār25,494 people
- 780 kmGangesat 46 m
Water level along the river (RiverATLAS; the height is exaggerated). Towns: GeoNames and Wikidata; bridges, dams and tributaries: Wikidata.
River in India
At the mouth it carries 1,245 m³/s on average: an Olympic pool every 2.0 seconds. It drops from 493 m to 46 m, 0.6 m per kilometre on average. Its basin covers 71,900 km², about the size of SL. 16.3 million people live in it. Highest water: from August to September; lowest: from February to May. Dams and reservoirs hold back a large share of its water (41% of a year's flow).
Where to start
- DaudnagarLargest city on its banks · 52,364 people
- Gaya Airport (GAY)Nearest airport with scheduled flights, 64 km from the cityCar hire at CCU airport (Kolkata)Discover Cars · Affiliate link↗
- From November to MarchThe best months to visit
Son River, month by month
Highest water: from August to September
Lowest water: from February to May. Best months to visit: from November to March.
From about 66 m³/s in the lowest month to 5,200 m³/s in the highest. An estimate: the monthly flow is modelled from the lowest and highest months of WaterGAP (RiverATLAS, 1971–2000) and the rain and snow along the river (WorldClim). Dams change the real rhythm. The chip is the average air temperature; below it, the month's rain.
Plan the trip
Plan the trip: boat trips, a bed by the river, a car
Some links above are affiliate links: if you book through them we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what the data on this page says.
The basin
Son River: the basin in numbers
68,436 km² of land send their water to this river. This is what lives on it.
- 16.3millionpeople live in the basin
- 241/km²people per km²
- 462maverage altitude of the basin
- 1,153mmof rain a year (basin average)
- 24.5°Caverage air temperature
- 9%protected areas
- 1.3%covered by lakes
- 16km³held in reservoirs
What covers the basin
- 29% Forest
- 44% Cropland
- 5% Pasture
- 3% Towns and cities
RiverATLAS (HydroATLAS v1.0, CC BY 4.0): land cover, people, protected areas, glaciers and dams over the whole basin upstream of the mouth.
Along the river
Son River: what you find on the way
- 2WeirsIndrapuri Barrage
From OpenStreetMap, within 2.3 km of the river. Not mapped is not the same as not there.
From space
The source and the mouth, seen from orbit
Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 by EOX IT Services GmbH (contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2016), CC BY 4.0. The glowing line is the river as drawn by RiverATLAS.
Photos
Son River in pictures
Tributaries
Where it flows, and what flows into it
It flows into
GangesIndia2,525 km12,000 m³/sTributaries (4)
Also: Rihand River, Kanhar River, North Koel River, Gopad River
In the same basin
India2,900 km19,500 m³/sYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/sPadma River
Bangladesh120 km32,000 m³/sGandaki RiverIndia630 km1,800 m³/sChambal RiverIndia960 km600 m³/sJamuna RiverBangladesh245 km20,100 m³/sGhaghara RiverIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/sTeesta RiverBangladesh470 km1,300 m³/sGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/sKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/sNearby
Rivers nearby
India630 km1,800 m³/s30 km awayGhaghara RiverIndia1,080 km3,300 m³/s24 km awayWest Rapti RiverIndia600 km580 m³/s138 km awayGomti RiverIndia900 km230 m³/s204 km awayKosi RiverIndia729 km2,300 m³/s239 km awayYamunaIndia1,376 km3,500 m³/s304 km awayTrishuli River
Nepal163 km1,000 m³/s231 km awayDudh KoshiNepal138 km180 m³/s221 km awayWhere these numbers come from
| Name, length, places | Wikidata (Q1418174) · CC0 |
|---|---|
| Course, profile, basin | RiverATLAS v1.0 (HydroATLAS, Linke et al. 2019) · CC BY 4.0 — followed along the river network from the point given by Wikidata |
| Flow | WaterGAP (RiverATLAS), 1971–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Climate along the river | WorldClim (RiverATLAS), 1970–2000 · CC BY 4.0 |
| Towns, bridges, dams | Wikidata · CC0; GeoNames · CC BY 4.0 |
| Along the river | © OpenStreetMap contributors · ODbL |
| Images | EOX Sentinel-2 cloudless 2016 · CC BY 4.0; Wikimedia Commons |
Every source and licence is on the data sources page.
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