Salween River much of its length, the Salween's course is nearly parallel to that of the much larger Mekong in the east. Although the commonly accepted name is Salween, the river is known by a handful of other names regionally: "Nu" in China, "Thanlwin" in southern Burma, and "Salawin" on the border of Thailand and Burma. Several major sub-continental drainage basins border on the Salween. The Mekong basin forms nearly the entire eastern boundary of the watershed, while the Irrawaddy River flows southwards on the west side of the basin. The smallest boundary is formed by the Yangtze to the extreme north.
Burma Plate Ma) further faulting developed and the Burma and Sunda microplates began to "break off" from the larger Eurasian plate. After a further series of transform faulting, and the continuing subduction of the India Plate beneath the Burma plate, backarc spreading saw the formation of the marginal basin and seafloor spreading centre which would become the Andaman Sea, a process well-underway by the mid-Pliocene (3–4 Ma). On December 26, 2004, a large portion of the boundary between the Burma Plate and the Indian Plate slipped, causing the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. This megathrust earthquake had an estimated moment magnitude