Physiography
The mangrove-dominated
Ganges Delta – the Sundarbans – is a complex
ecosystem comprising one of the three largest single tract of
mangrove forests of the world. Shared between two neighbouring countries,
Bangladesh and
India, the larger part (62%)is situated in the southwest corner of Bangladesh. To the south the forest meets the
Bay of Bengal; to the east it is bordered by the
Baleswar River and to the north there is a sharp interface with intensively cultivated land. The natural drainage in the upstream areas, other than the main river channels, is everywhere impeded by extensive embankments and
polders. The Sundarbans was originally measured (about 200 years ago) to be of about 16,700 km². Now it has dwindled to about 1/3 of the original size. The total land area today is 4,143 km² (including exposed
sandbars: 42 km²) and the remaining water area of 1,874 km² encompasses rivers, small streams and canals. Rivers in the Sundarbans are meeting places of salt water and freshwater. Thus, it is a region of transition between the freshwater of the rivers originating from the Ganges and the saline water of the Bay of Bengal (Wahid
et al., 2002).
