A star-shaped peak at top left reaches 23,850 feet. Glaciers can be seen in valleys at these high elevations. The Brahmaputra River is a highly braided, meandering river with innumerable river islands, alluvial fans, sand bars, ox-bow lakes, and marshes. The valley is built by deposition of alluvium upon a sag formed during the period of the rise of the Himalaya. The Brahmaputra has more than 35 major tributaries.
Floods are an annual menace to agriculture and settlements in the valley.
Vast amounts of silt and debris, already a problem, are increased many folds with continuing deforestation of the mountain slopes. The two lakes seen in the center of the image are the Laga Co and the Kunggyu Co located just inside the Tibet border. Although clouds and rainfall are rare in this region, snow is always present on the mountain peaks. S66-54677 India and Ceylon as seen from the orbiting Gemini 11 spacecraft at an altitude of 410 nautical miles during its 26th revolution of the earth. The Maldive Islands are near nose of spacecraft.