Great rivers of Asia, Mekong River

The Mekong River is one of the great rivers of Asia, ranking twelfth in the list of longest rivers of the world. It rises at about 5,000m in the Tanghla Shan Mountains, on the northeast rim of the great Tibetan Plateau, and flows for 4,200 km through or along the borders of six countries: China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Kampuchea and Vietnam. In terms of mean annual discharge, the Mekong ranks sixth in the world. The total drainage basin of 783,000 sq.km includes 160,000 sq.km in China, 12,000 sq.km in Burma, and 611,000 sq.km in Laos, Kampuchea, Thailand and Vietnam (the lower Mekong basin).Approximately nine-tenths of Kampuchea (154,730 sq.km) lie within the lower Mekong basin. The river itself flows for 486 km across Kampuchean territory from the Lao border In the north to the Vietnamese border in the south. Leaving the southeast edge of the Korat Plateau in southern Laos and eastern Thailand, the Mekong plunges over the Khone Falls at the Laos-Kampuchea border and reaches the lowlands of northern Kampuchea after crossing a series of rapids. Below Kompong Cham, the river forms a fluviatile lowland landscape with high natural levees, broad floodplains and extensive backwater swamps, many of which remain flooded throughout the dry season. Beyond the backswamps are parallel belts of paddy fields.