Kapuas
Kapuas 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
- 0.23°, 111.55°
About Kapuas
The Kapuas River (Old Indonesian/Dutch spelling: Kapoeas River) is a river in the Indonesian part of Borneo island, at the geographic center of Maritime Southeast Asia. At 1,143 km (710 mi) in length, it is the longest river on the island of Borneo, the longest river in Indonesia and one of the world's longest island rivers. It originates in the Müller mountain range at the center of the island and flows west into the South China Sea creating an extended marshy delta. The delta is located west-southwest of Pontianak, the capital of the West Kalimantan province, althouth the most northern of the river's outflows actually goes through the city itself. This Kapuas River should be distinguished from another Kapuas, which starts on the other side of the same mountain range in central Borneo but flows to the south, merging with the Barito and discharging into the Java Sea.
Encyclopedic summary adapted from Wikipedia: Kapuas River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kapuas in Depth
Geography and hydrology
The river is 1,143 km (710 mi) long and 99,000 km2 (38,000 mi2) the river basin covers more than 67% of West Kalimantan. The river originates near the center of Borneo, south of the Indonesian-Malaysian border, in the joint between the western slope of the Müller Mountain Range, which runs through the island center, and the southern slope of the Upper Kapuas Range (Indonesian: Kapuas Hulu), which is located more to the west. For about 165 km (103 mi) it flows through a mountainous terrain and then descends to a marshy plain. There, the elevation decreases by only 50 m (0.031 mi) over 902 km (560 mi) from Putussibau to the river delta.
Climate
The climate is warm and very humid, with the average annual precipitation ranging from year to year between 2,863 and 5,517 mm (Köppen Climate-classification Af), and the number of rainy days between 120 and 309; the largest precipitation was observed in 1976 (120 rainy days) and the wettest in 1988, with only 184 rainy days. The temperature is rather stable with a typical minimum of 24 °C (75 °F) and a maximum of 32 °C (90 °F) throughout the whole year.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Kapuas River (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Kapuas: Key Facts
| Length | 1,143 km |
|---|---|
| Average discharge | 6,707 m³/s |
| Drainage basin | 98,749 km² |
| Mouth | Karimata Strait |
| Drainage system | Kapuas basin |
| Tributaries | Landak River |
Facts from Wikidata Q841359 (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
Kapuas: Quick Answers
- Where is Kapuas?
- Kapuas is located in Indonesia, at 0.2289° N, 111.5479° E.
- Are there dams on the Kapuas?
- No dam on the Kapuas is recorded in the YearMaps dam index, which covers major structures only.