Prelims ask
Huang He, loess, Bohai, Ordos loop, not the longest.
Asia
Yellow River
Second-longest in China. Not the longest in Asia.
- Source
- Bayan Har Mountains, Qinghai, on the eastern Tibetan plateau.
- Countries
- China.
- Direction
- East, with the great Ordos loop to the north.
- Mouth
- Bohai Sea.
- Length
- About 5,460 km.
- Major tributaries
- Wei and Fen are the historic tributaries to remember.
- Delta or estuary
- Delta. The lower course has switched many times.
- Basin
- Highest sediment load of the great rivers, from the Loess Plateau. ‘China’s Sorrow’ refers to the floods and avulsions.
- One exam fact
- The yellow colour is loess, not a Himalayan silt of the Ganga type.
Mains use
A river whose lower course is a raised bed built of its own load. Use for sediment, not for international law.