TheYarlungZangboRiver(Chinese:雅鲁藏布江;pinyin:YǎlǔZàngbùJiāng)orYarlungTsangpo(Tibetan:ཡར་ཀླུངས་གཙང་པོ་;Wylie:yarkLungsgTsangpo)originatesupstreamfromtheSouthTibetValleyandYarlungZangboGrandCanyon,inTibet.ItthenpassesthroughthestateofArunachalPradesh,India,whereitisknownastheDihang.DownstreamfromArunachalPradeshtheriverbecomeswiderandatthispointiscalledtheBrahmaputraRiver.IteventuallydisgorgesintotheBayofBengal.Sincetherivercrossesinternationalboundaries,ithasatleastthreedifferentnamesindifferentlanguages.[1]

　　Description

　　TheYarlungZangboRiveristhehighestmajorriverintheworld.ItslongesttributaryistheNyangRiver.InTibettheriverflowsthroughtheSouthTibetValley,whichisapproximately1200kilometreslongand300kilometreswide.Thevalleydescendsfrom4500metresabovesealevelto3000metres.[2][3]Asitdescends,thesurroundingvegetationchangesfromcolddeserttoaridsteppetodeciduousscrubvegetation.Itultimatelytransitionsintoaconiferandrhododendronforest.Thetreelineisapproximately3,200metres.[4]SedimentarysandstonerocksfoundneartheTibetancapitalofLhasacontaingrainsofmagneticmineralsthatrecordtheEarth'salternatingmagneticfieldcurrent.[1]

　　TheYarlungZangboGrandCanyon,formedbyahorse-shoebendintheriverwhereitflowsaroundNamchaBarwa,isthedeepest,andpossiblylongestcanyonintheworld.[5]Theriverhasbeenachallengetowhitewaterkayakersbecauseoftheextremeconditionsoftheriver.[6]

　　TheYarlungZangboRiverhasthreemajorwaterfalls.[7]Thelargestwaterfalloftheriver,the"HiddenFalls",wasnotpublicizedintheWestuntil1998,whenitssightingbyWesternerswasbrieflyhailedasa"discovery."[8]TheywereevenportrayedasthediscoveryofthegreatfallswhichhadbeenthetopicofstoriestoldtoearlyWesternersbyTibetanhuntersandBuddhistmonks,butwhichhadneverbeenfoundbyWesternexplorersatthetime.[9]Chineseauthoritiesprotested,however,sayingthatChinesegeographers,whohadexploredthegorgesince1973,hadalreadytakenpicturesfromthefallsin1987fromahelicopter.[10]