INDIAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 2 INTRODUCTION GREAT PLAINS OF INDIA By SIDDHANT AGNIHOTRI B.Sc (Silver Medalist) M.Sc (Applied Physics) WEBSITE :STUDYGLOWS.COM STUDYGLOWS PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY • The great mountain of North • Northern Plain • Peninsular Plateau • Coastal Plains • Thar Desert • Islands INDO GANGETIC PLAIN • The Indo-Gangetic Plain, also known as the Indus-Ganga Plain and the North Indian River Plain, is a 630-million-acre (2.5-million km2) fertile plain encompassing Northern regions of the Indian subcontinent, including most of northern and eastern India, the eastern parts of Pakistan, virtually all of Bangladesh and southern plains of Nepal. • The region is named after the Indus and the Ganges rivers and encompasses a number of large urban areas. The plain is bound on the north by the Himalayas, which feed its numerous rivers and are the source of the fertile alluvium deposited across the region by the two river systems. PLAINS Roughly, the Indo-Gangetic Plain stretches across: • Jammu Plains in the North; • Punjab Plains in Eastern Pakistan and Northwestern India; • Sindh Plains in Southern Pakistan; • Indus Delta in Southern Pakistan and Western India; • Ganga-Yamuna Doab; • Rohilkhand (Katehr) Plains; • Awadh Plains,the Purvanchal Plains; the Bihar Plains; the North Bengal plains; the Ganges Delta in India and Bangladesh; and • Brahmaputra Valley in the East. EXTENT • The great plains are sometimes classified into four divisions: 1. Bhabar belt 2. The Terai 3. The Bangar belt 4. The Khadar belt STUDYGLOWS LIKE SHARE SUBSCRIBE INDIAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 2 CHAPTER 1 REGIONS OF NORTHERN PLAINS By SIDDHANT AGNIHOTRI B.Sc (Silver Medalist) M.Sc (Applied Physics) WEBSITE :STUDYGLOWS.COM STUDYGLOWS PLAINS • RAJASTHAN AND PUNJAB PLAINS • INDO - GANGETIC PLAIN • BRAHMAPUTRA PLAINS PUNJAB PLAINS • The Punjab Plain is a large alluvial plain in Eastern Pakistan and Northwestern India. • The plain includes the Pakistani province of Punjab and the Indian states of Punjab and Haryana and is around 38,300 square miles (99,000 km2) in area. • The plain is the western part of the North Indian River Plain in Pakistan and Western India formed by the Indus River and its tributaries - Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej. The larger part of Punjab plain lies in Pakistan. The land formed of alluvium in between two rivers known as Doab are found here. DOAB • BIST (BEAS AND SATLUJ) • BARI(BEAS AND RAVI) • RACHNA(RAVI AND CHENAB) • CHAJ(CHANAB AND JHELUM) • SINDHSAGAR(INDUS AND JHELUM CHENAB) REGIONS • Bhabar Region: Bhabhar Region is 8 to 16 km wide, region lies along the foothills of Himalayas between Indus and Teesta rivers. It contains pebbles & stones which are extremely pervious. • Terai Region: 15 to 30 km wide belt found south of the Bhabar region is called as Terai. It is a marshy tract and zone of excessive dampness with the thick grown of forests and high biological diversity. E.g: Sitapur, Rampur, Lakhimpur, Philibhit, Bareilly region of Uttar Pradesh. REGIONS • Bangar Region: It is is the higher part of the plains, where the floodwater cannot reach. Bangar region is made up of old alluvium and it contains pebbles and coarser sediments. These plains are less fertile. • Khadar Region: Khadar Region is made up of new alluvium. In this region, floods bring new alluvium every year. Khadar region is mainly found along the river banks and contains fine particles or clays so Khadar region is fertile region. INDIAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 2 CHAPTER 1 TRIBUTARIES OF INDUS RIVER By SIDDHANT AGNIHOTRI B.Sc (Silver Medalist) M.Sc (Applied Physics) WEBSITE :STUDYGLOWS.COM INDUS RIVER INDO GANGETIC PLAIN Glaciers of Kailas Range 2880 km total. Indus (Close to 710 km in India Manasarovar Lake) Jhelum Verinag 720 km Bara Lacha Chenab 1180 km Pass Near Rohtang Ravi 725 km Pass Near Rohtang Beas 460 km Pass 1450 km total Manasarovar-R Satluj 1050 km in akas Lakes India JHELUM RIVER • The Jhelum has its source in a spring at Verinag in the south-eastern part of the Kashmir Valley. • It flows northwards into Wular Lake .At Baramulla the river enters a gorge in the hills. • At Muzaffarabad, the river takes a sharp bend and it forms the India-Pakistan boundary for 170 km and emerges at the Potwar Plateau near Mirpur.It joins the Chenab at Trimmu. CHENAB RIVER • The Chenab originates from near the Bara Lacha Pass in the Lahul-Spiti part of the Zaskar Range. • Two small streams on opposite sides of the pass, namely Chandra and Bhaga, form its headwaters at an altitude of 4,900 m. • It enters the plain area near Akhnur in Jammu and Kashmir.From here it through the plains of Pakistani Punjab to reach Panchnad where it joins the Satluj after receiving the waters of Jhelum and Ravi rivers. RAVI RIVER • The Ravi has its source in Kullu hills near the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh. • It enters Punjab Plains near Madhopur and later enters Pakistan below Amritsar. BEAS RIVER • Beas originates near the Rohtang Pass, close to the source of the Ravi. • It crosses the Dhaola Dhar range and it takes a south-westerly direction and meets the Satluj river at Harike in Punja.It is a comparatively small river which is only 460 km long but lies entirely within the Indian territory. SATLUJ RIVER • The Satluj rises from the Manasarovar-Rakas Lakes in western Tibet at a height of 4,570 m within 80 km of the source of the Indus. • Before entering the Punjab plain, it cuts a gorge in Naina Devi Dhar, where the famous Bhakra dam has been constructed. • After entering the plain at Rupnagar (Ropar), it turns westwards and is joined by the Beas at Harike.From near Ferozepur to Fazilka it forms the boundary between India and Pakistan for nearly 120 km. • It joins the Indus a few kilometres above Mithankot.Out of its total length of 1,450 km, it flows for 1,050 km in Indian territory. INDIAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 2 CHAPTER 2 HOLY GANGA By SIDDHANT AGNIHOTRI B.Sc (Silver Medalist) M.Sc (Applied Physics) WEBSITE :STUDYGLOWS.COM INDUS RIVER GANGA RIVER • The main stream of Ganga begins at the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Alaknanda rivers in the town of Devprayag in the Garhwal division of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. • The Bhagirathi rises at the foot of Gangotri Glacier, at Gomukh, Although many small streams comprise the headwaters of Ganga, the six longest and their five confluences are considered sacred. • The six headstreams are the Alaknanda, Dhauliganga, Nandakini, Pindar, Mandakini, and Bhagirathi rivers. The five confluences, known as the Panch Prayag, are all along the Alaknanda. GANGA RIVER • They are, in downstream order, Vishnuprayag, where the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda; Nandprayag, where the Nandakini joins; Karnaprayag, where the Pindar joins, Rudraprayag, where the Mandakini joins; and finally, Devprayag, where the Bhagirathi joins the Alaknanda to form Ganga. • After flowing 250 km (155.343 mi) through its narrow Himalayan valley, Ganga emerges from the mountains at Rishikesh, then debouches onto the Gangetic Plain at the pilgrimage town of Haridwar. GANGA RIVER • Ganga joins the river Yamuna at the Triveni Sangam at Prayagraj, a holy confluence in Hinduism. At their confluence the Yamuna is larger than the Ganga, contributing about 2,950 m3/s (104,000 cu ft/s),or about 58.5% of the combined flow. • Now flowing east, the river meets the Tamsa River (also called Tons).After the Tamsa the Gomti River joins, flowing south from the Himalayas. Then the Ghaghara River (Karnali River), also flowing south from the Himalayas of Nepal, joins. After the Ghaghara (Karnali) confluence the Ganga is joined from the south by the Son River. • The Gandaki River, then the Kosi River, join from the north flowing from Nepal.Along the way between Allahabadand Malda, West Bengal, the Ganga passes the towns of Chunar, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur, Patna, Hajipur, Chapra, Bhagalpur, Ballia, Buxar, Simaria, Sultanganj, and Saidpur. • GANGA RIVER • Just before the border with Bangladesh the Farakka Barrage controls the flow of Ganga, diverting some of the water into a feeder canal linked to the Hooghly for the purpose of keeping it relatively silt-free. • The Hooghly River is formed by the confluence of the Bhagirathi River. The Hooghly River empties into the Bay of Bengal near Sagar Island.Between Malda and the Bay of Bengal, the Hooghly river passes the towns and cities of Murshidabad, Nabadwip, Kolkata and Howrah. GANGA RIVER • After entering Bangladesh, the main branch of Ganga is known as the Padma. The Padma is joined by the Jamuna River( largest distributary of the Brahmaputra). • Further downtream, the Padma joins the Meghna River, the second largest distributary of the Brahmaputra, and takes on the Meghna's name as it enters the Meghna Estuary, which empties into the Bay of Bengal. • The Ganga Delta, formed mainly by the large, sediment-laden flows of the Ganga and Brahmaputra rivers, is the world's largest delta, at about 59,000 km2 (23,000 sq mi).It stretches 322 km (200 mi) along the Bay of Bengal known as sundarbans. INDIAN GEOGRAPHY UNIT 2 CHAPTER 3 TRIBUTARIES OF GANGA By SIDDHANT AGNIHOTRI B.Sc (Silver Medalist) M.Sc (Applied Physics) WEBSITE :STUDYGLOWS.COM INDUS RIVER RIVER SOURCE Bhagirathi (Ganga) GANGAGangotri RIVER glacier Yamnotri glacier on the Yamuna Bandarpunch Peak Chambal Janapao Hills in the Vindhya Range Banas Aravali Range Betwa Bhopal district Ken Barner Range Son Amarkantak Plateau Damodar (‘Sorrow of Bengal’) Chotanagpur plateau Ramganga River Garhwal district of Uttarakhand Gurla Mandhata peak, south of Ghaghra River Manasarovar in Tibet (river of the trans-Himalayan origin) The Kali River (border between Nepal Glaciers of trans-Himalayas and Uttarakhand) Gandak River Tibet-Nepal border Sumesar hills near the India-Nepal Burhi Gandak border Tumar, Arun and Sun Kosi unite at Kosi (‘Sorrow of Bihar’) Triveni north of the Mahabharata Range to form the Kosi.