Mahakam
Mahakam is a mapped river in the YearMaps hydrographic index. River courses organise settlement, agriculture and frontier-making more durably than any political boundary, and this reach is indexed against the dams, lakes and cities within its catchment.
- Feature Class
- River
- Coordinates
- 0.24°, 115.55°
About Mahakam
The Mahakam River (Indonesian: Sungai Mahakam) is the third longest river (with the third greatest volume discharge) in Borneo after the Kapuas River and the Barito River, and is located in East Kalimantan province of Indonesia. It flows 980 kilometers (610 miles) from the district of Long Apari in the highlands of Borneo, to its mouth at the Makassar Strait.
The city of Samarinda, the provincial capital of East Kalimantan, lies about 48 kilometers (30 mi) from the river mouth. The delta of the Mahakam River has a specific micro climate which is influenced by high and low tide at sea level. The southernmost branch of the delta is part of provincial border between East Kalimantan and Nusantara Capital Specific Region.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Mahakam River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Mahakam in Depth
Ecology
Mahakam and its floodplain is an ecologically important region. A total of 147 indigenous freshwater fish species had been identified from the Mahakam. The Mahakam hosts the freshwater dolphin Irrawaddy dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris; called Pesut by local people) a critically endangered species, which is included in CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora) Appendix I.
The Mahakam river basin is also important breeding and resting place for 298 bird species, among them 70 protected and five endemic species: the dusky munia, Bornean whistler, Bornean peacock-pheasant, Bornean blue-flycatcher and Bornean bristlehead. Some 160,000 ha of the delta has been recognised as an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International.
Geology
Kalimantan, where the Mahakam lies, is part of the Sunda Continental Plate. The large island has mountain ranges between Indonesia and Malaysia. As described by van Bemmelen (1949), River Mahakam rises in Cemaru (1,681 meters (5,515 feet)) in the center of Kalimantan, and from there it cuts through the pre-tertiary axis of the island east of the Batuayan (1,652 meters (5,420 ft)) and then reaches the tertiary basin of Kutai. Its middle course traverses a lowland plain with many marshy lakes. This intermontane depression is separated from the neighboring basin, the Barito depression, by a broad hilly tract of less than 500 meters (1,600 ft) altitude.
Climate
The Mahakam catchment is around the equator. The average annual rainfall in the catchment area is 3,163 mm. The average runoff is around 1,911 mm. According to the Köppen climate classification, this area belongs to type Af (tropical rainforest) and has a minimum temperature of ≥18 °C, while precipitation during the driest month in a normal year is ≥60 mm The transfer of mass and energy in the tropical zone occurs through general air circulation known as the Hadley cell. According to Seidel et al. (2008), the precipitation pattern in this area is largely determined by this large-scale atmospheric wind pattern, which is observable in several ways throughout the atmosphere.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Mahakam River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Mahakam: Key Facts
| Length | 940 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 300 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 80,000 km² |
| Mouth | Makassar Strait |
Facts from Wikidata Q328396 (CC0).
Major River Dossiers
Hand-written studies of the great river systems of history.
Connected Reaches
Nearby watercourses in the same drainage network.
Water Bodies in the Catchment
Settlements Along the Reach
Hydraulic Infrastructure Nearby
Surrounding Terrain
Mahakam: Quick Answers
- Where is Mahakam?
- Mahakam is located in Indonesia, at 0.2410° N, 115.5529° E.
- Are there dams on the Mahakam?
- No dam on the Mahakam is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.