>Worldbruce at 14:51, 10 November 2020

2020-11-10T14:51:30Z

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[[Image:BD Tangail 1.JPG|220px |right |thumb |A beel near Aloa village, [[Tangail District]], Bangladesh.]]
[[Image:Jute field, Halti Beel, Natore.jpg|thumb|right|Halti Beel in [[Natore District]]]]
[[File:Maguri Beel.jpg|right|thumb|[[Maguri Motapung Beel]] in [[Tinsukia district]] of [[Assam]]]]
A '''beel''' is a [[billabong]] or a lake-like [[wetland]] with static water (as opposed to moving water in rivers and canals - typically called {{transl|bn|khaals}} in Bengali, in the [[Ganges]] - [[Brahmaputra]] [[Indo-Gangetic plain|flood plains]] of the Eastern [[India]]n states of [[West Bengal]], and [[Assam]] and in the country of [[Bangladesh]]. The term owes its origins to the word of the same pronunciation meaning "pond" and "lake" in the [[Bengali language|Bengali]] and [[Assamese language|Assamese]] languages.

==Formation==
Typically, beels are formed by inundation of low-lying lands during [[flood]]ing, where some water gets trapped even after flood waters recede back from the [[flood plain]]s. Beels may also be caused by filling up of low-lying areas during [[rain]]s, especially during the [[monsoon]] season.

There are different causes for the formation of beels. A string of beels is indicative of there being the remains of a great river that deserted its channel, moving to a new one elsewhere.<ref name = "Banglapedia 1">{{citation |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Beel |chapter=Beel |last=Mohd Shamsul Alam |first=and Md Sazzad Hossain |title= Banglapedia |publisher= Asiatic Society of Bangladesh |access-date=July 28, 2015 |year=2012 |edition=Second}}</ref>

==Haor, baor==
In north eastern Bangladesh there are large water bodies called [[haor]]s. A haor is a bowl shaped [[Depression (geology)|depression]] which is flooded every year during [[monsoon]]. Throughout the rainy season a haor is such a vast stretch of turbulent water that it is thought of as a sea, within which the villages appear as islands. It remains under water for seven months of the year. During the dry season water drains out leaving small shallow lakes exposing rich soil extensively cultivated for rice.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?9601961 |title= Environmental Considerations for Water Resources Development in Haor Areas of Northeastern Bangladesh |last= G. M. Akram Hossain |first= and Ainun Nishat |publisher= American Society of Civil Engineers |access-date= 2007-11-23 |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20110716095620/http://cedb.asce.org/cgi/WWWdisplay.cgi?9601961 |archive-date= 2011-07-16 }}</ref><ref>{{citation |chapter-url=http://en.banglapedia.org/index.php?title=Haor |chapter=Haor |last= Mohd Shamsul Alam |first= and Md Sazzad Hossain |title=Banglapedia |publisher=Asiatic Society of Bangladesh |access-date= July 28, 2015 |year=2012 |edition=Second}}</ref> In greater Comilla, Faridpur, Dhaka and Pabna districts the beel is sometimes referred to as baor.<ref name = "Banglapedia 1"/>

==Location of important beels==

===Bangladesh===
Bangladesh has thousands of beels, with the best-known being [[Chalan Beel]], Gopalganj-Khulna Beel, Meda Beel, Aila beel, Dekhar beel, Kuri beel, Erali beel and Arial Beel.<ref name=AWA>Abdul Wahab Akonda, [http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/wetlands/pdf/Bangladesh.pdf BANGLADESH] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327065356/http://www.iwmi.cgiar.org/wetlands/pdf/Bangladesh.pdf |date=2009-03-27 }}, International Water Management Institute; ''Retrieved: 2007-12-04''</ref> In the central part Bangladesh, important beels are Katla, Chatal, Nagarkanda, and Chanda. Most of the large beels have shrunk a great deal in recent decades. Regionwise, in the northwest of Bangladesh some of the larger beels are Bara Beel in [[Pirganj Upazila, Rangpur|Pirganj]], Tagrai Beel in [[Kurigram District|Kurigram]], Lunipukur in [[Rangpur District|Rangpur]], Bara Mirzapur Beel in [[Narail District|Narail]] and Keshpathar in [[Bogra District|Bogra]]. The old river course of [[Atrai River|Atrai]] has beels. In the southern region of Bangladesh, important beels are Boyra, [[Beel Dakatia|Dakatia]], Bara, Kola, Patla, Chatal and Srirampur.<ref name = "Banglapedia 1"/>

===Assam===
In [[Assam]], [[Deepor Beel]] is a permanent, freshwater lake, in a former channel of the Brahmaputra river, to the south of the main river south-west of [[Guwahati]]. It has great biological and environmental importance besides being the only major storm water storage basin for the Guwahati city. The beel is endowed with rich floral and faunal diversity. In addition to huge congregation of residential water birds, the Deepor ecosystem harbours large number of migratory waterfowl each year. Deepor Beel has been designated as a [[Ramsar Convention|Ramsar]] site in November 2002.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater_wetlands/our_work/ramsar_sites/deepor_beel_.cfm |title=Deepor Beel |work=FreshWater & Wetlands |publisher=WWF |access-date=2007-11-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071021235100/http://www.wwfindia.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater_wetlands/our_work/ramsar_sites/deepor_beel_.cfm |archive-date=2007-10-21 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{refbegin}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110721185837/http://www.bengalbirds.info/Deepor_Beel_Guwahati_Assam.php ''Birding opportunities at Deepor Beel'']
{{refend}}

{{Rivers in and around Bengal}}

{{pond}}

[[Category:Lakes]]
[[Category:Depressions (geology)]]
[[Category:Geography of India]]
[[Category:Ponds]]
[[Category:Wetlands of Bangladesh]]

Beel - Revision history

>Worldbruce at 14:51, 10 November 2020