Geography of India
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Geography of India Introduction India is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of total geographical area. The most important fact about the geographical identity of India is the diversity of its physiography, human resources and culture. 1. Location India is bounded by 80.4 North latitudes on its north and 370.7 East longitudes on its west and 970.25 East longitudes on its east. 2. Relief and Drainage 1. Relief : India may be divided into the following distinct physiographic units : A. The Extra Peninsular B. The North Indian Plains C. The Peninsular Plateau. D. Coastal Plains A. The Extra Peninsular Mountains : The extra peninsular mountains consists of the Himalayas and branch ridges along with the Karakorams in the northern borders of India; and north eastern hilly ranges found on the east of Assam. The Himalayas on the northern borders of India consist of the following parallel mountain are one behind the other : a) The Siwalik foot hills b) The Lesser Himalayas c) The Greater Himalayas a) The Siwalik : The Siwaliks are basically the foot-hills of the Himalayas only 10 to 15 km wide. Their height is considerably lower than other Himalayan ranges. They are made of debris brought down by that of numerous streams from the Himalayas. b) The Lesser Himalayas : The lesser Himalayas is also known as the Himachal. Its width varies between 60 to 80 km. Its height is about 300 mts. Most of the famous hills stations like Simla, Masoori, Darjeeling etc. are found in the range. c) The Greater Himalayas : The greater Himalayas is also known as the Himadri. This greater range of Himalayan mountains has some of the highest peaks in the world like the Mt. Everest, the K2 etc. This range is like a great wall shutting the Indian sub-continent off from the rest of Asia. The Himalayan region may alsobe divided into three broad divisions from west to east. These divisions are as follows: i) The Western Himalayas - extending from river Indus to river Kali, 880 km. long. ii) The Central Himalayas or Nepal Himalayas, stretching from rive Kali to river Tista, 800 km. iii) The Eastern Himalayas running from river Tista to river Brahmaputra, 725 km. long. GS I - Geography / 311 B. The Great Indian Plains The great Indian plain which stretches right across from the Arabian Sea to Bengal, is formed by the deposits of alluvium brought by two great rivers and their tributaries. Both these rivers flow from the Himalayas. The Indus flows south-westward through Pakistan into Arabian Sea, While the Ganga flows south eastwards into the Bay of Bengal. These deposits are more than a thousand meters thick near Delhi and more than two thousand meters thick near the mouth of Ganga. In this area there are practically no rock exposures on the surface. The plain gently slopes towards the east, at a rate less than a meter per three kms. The plain reveals characteristic feature of river deposition, such as old terraces, growing flood plains, meandering rivers and natural levees. The soil consists of the older “Bhangar” on old terraces and is densely cultivated, and the younger “Khaddar” soils in flood plains is under high grass. To the west of the Ganga plain lie the arid plains of Rajasthan. Lying west of Aravillis, it is a region of moving, sands and scanty rains known as Rajasthan Desert or Thar Desert. The region is marked by features of wind erosion like barkhans and sand dunes, dry beds of seasonal wadis or playa lakes or a number of salt lakes of which Sambar Lake is most important. C. The Peninsular Plateau Peninsular region of India, one of the oldest land-units of the world, perhaps was formed in the pre-Cambrian period. In the north, the Aravalli mountain range separates the Peninsula from the Great Indian Plains. On either side, a narrow strip of eastern and western coastal plains separates it from the oceans. Several mountain ranges are located within the peninsular region. These are - a) Vindhya and Satpura ranges. b) Western ghats c) Eastern ghats d) Aravilli range The peninsular plateau is bounded by the Aravallis in the north-west. The north eastern parts of the peninsula consists of many small plateaus like Baghalkhand and Chhotanagpur. The Peninsular plateau slopping southeastwards is about a thousand meters higher in the south and lower in the north. It is triangular shaped. Its western rim forms the Western Ghats that run as continuous ranges from the Tapi valley southwards at an average distance of 30 to 50 k.m. from the Arabian Sea. The Western ghat run in broad curves with a few gaps. The Palghat, the Bhor Ghat, the Thal Ghat etc. are the most significant gaps. South of Palghat, the Western ghats continue as the Anamalai, Cardamom and other hills. Anaimudi, the highest peak of south India, lies here. The ‘Eastern Ghats’ forming the eastern edge of the Peninsula plateau from a broken chain of hills of different rocks belonging to different periods. The Vindhyas form a steep escarpment facing south and rise to elevation of 300 to 600 m. On the extreme eastern part they are known as Kaimar range. The Satpuda also run in east-west direction almost parallel to the Vindhyas. The northern part of the plateau in Maharashtra is a lava plateau with wide open valleys and intervening lava ranges like Ajantha, Mahadeo, Maikal etc. The Maharashtra plateau appears bounded on the north and east by the rift valleys in which flow the rivers Tapi-Poorna, Wardha 312 / Chanakya Mandal Pariwar - UPSC Mains Reference Book and the middle section of the Godavari. D. The Coastal Plains : In both the eastern and western sides of the peninsula, an elongated strip of plain land has evolved due to marine action. i) Eastern Coastal Plain : This is an uninterrupted coastline along the eastern margin of the eastern ghats. It streches from Kanyakumari in the south of Subarnarekha river in the north. The entire eastern coast is composed of rich fertile alluvium. The deposition of an enormous amount of alluvium formed the river plains and the marine activities produced spits, lagoons, offshore bars etc. Krishna, Goadavari and Cauvery deltas are very famous on this coastal plain. ii) Western Coastal Plain : Compared to the Western coastal plain is narrow and discontinuous. Like the eastern coastal plain, this plain also streches from Kanyakumari to Gujarat; particularly Rann of Kutch may be taken as its northern limit. Since the coastal plain is very narrow and most of the rivers from the western ghats are very swift, there is no delta formation by any river on this coast. The Drainage system of India India gets very heavy rainfall from monsoon winds. There are several large, medium and small sized rivers. Indian rivers may be classified into the following groups. a) Himalayan Rivers. b) Peninsular Rivers c) Coastal Rivers d) Rivers having inland drainage. a) Himalayan Rivers There are three major Himalayan rivers, i.e. Ganga, Indus and Brahmaputra. Ganga : Ganga in its upper course is known as Bhagirathi. Its Source is in the Gangotri glacier or Gomukh. Another stream that flows southward from the Alaka Glacier is known as Alaknanda. After Devprayag, the Bahgirathi joins the Alaknanda, and the combined flow of these two rivers travels southwards. After descending in the plain near Haridwar it flows southeast within plain region of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West-Bengal. Yamunotri glacier is the source of river Yamuna. Yamuna joins Ganga at Allahabad. Left bank tributaries of the Ganga are Ramagnaga, Ghaghara, Burigandak, Kosi, Gandak etc. and right bank tributaries are Betwa, Gomati, Yamuna, Damodar and Son. The Brahmaputra : This is another very important river system discharging the maximum volume of water among the Indian rivers. The source of the river is near Chemoyung Dung glacier. In its entire course in Tibet it is known as Tsangpo. Near Namchabarwa it enters in India and flows into Aurnachal Pradesh. Subansiri, Kameng and Manas are its important right bank tributaries and Buri, Dihing, Disang and Kopila are its left bank tributaries. Near Duburi, the Brahmaputra enters Bangladesh. Indus : The source of Indus is in Mansarowar. After traversing about 240 km. in Tibet it enters Kashmir. Then the river abruptly takes a sharp bend in the south and after traversing 95 km. in India it crosses to Indo-Pak border. Five famous tributaries are Chenab, Ravi, Sutlaj, Beas and Jhelum. b) Peninsular Rivers Important rivers in the peninsular region are : GS I - Geography / 313 (i) West Flowing - (1) Narmada; (2) Tapi and (3) Sabarmati (ii) East flowing - (1) Godavari; (2) Krishna, (3) Cauvery and (4) Mahanadi (i) West flowing Rivers or Arabian Sea Rivers (1) Narmada : Narmada originates from the Amarkantak plateau, flowing through Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra it reaches in Gujrat and joins the Arabian Sea. (2) Tapi : Tapi rises from the Mahadeo hill and flows through the gap of Satpura and Ajantha, enters Gujarat state and joins the Arabian Sea (3) Sabarmati : Sabarmati rises from Jaisamudra lake of Rajasthan and flows through Gujarat and joins and Arabian Sea. (ii) East Flowing Rivers OR Bay of Bengal Rivers : (1) Godavari : Godavari rises from Trambak near Nashik district in Maharashtra. Passing through Andhra Pradesh it joins the Bay of Bengal. Manjira, Pranhita and Indravati are its major tributaries. (2) Krishna : Krishna rises at Mahabeleshwar in Satara district in Maharashtra. Its major tributaries are koyana, Panchaganga, Dudhganga, Bhima, Tungbhadra, Ghatprabha and Malprabha. (3) Cauvery : Cauvery rises in Brahmagiri hills of Karnataka. It passes through Tamilnadu before joining the Bay of Bengal. c) Coastal Rivers : A large number of short, swift flowing streams rise in the rainly western slopes of the western ghats.