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    Physical Features of India

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    Manas Agrawal
    India has a wide variety of physical features formed by tectonic plate movement including mountains, plains, deserts and plateaus. The Himalayas in the north are young fold mountains and among the highest in the world. Central India contains the ancient Peninsular Plateau which is divided into the Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau. Coastal areas bordering the plateau include the Konkan and Malabar coasts in the west and the Northern Circar and Coromandel coasts in the east. Islands include the Lakshadweep islands off Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal.

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    Physical Features of India

    Uploaded by

    Manas Agrawal
    274 views3 pages
    India has a wide variety of physical features formed by tectonic plate movement including mountains, plains, deserts and plateaus. The Himalayas in the north are young fold mountains and among the highest in the world. Central India contains the ancient Peninsular Plateau which is divided into the Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau. Coastal areas bordering the plateau include the Konkan and Malabar coasts in the west and the Northern Circar and Coromandel coasts in the east. Islands include the Lakshadweep islands off Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal.

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    India has a wide variety of physical features formed by tectonic plate movement including mountains, plains, deserts and plateaus. The Himalayas in the north are young fold mountains and among the highest in the world. Central India contains the ancient Peninsular Plateau which is divided into the Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau. Coastal areas bordering the plateau include the Konkan and Malabar coasts in the west and the Northern Circar and Coromandel coasts in the east. Islands include the Lakshadweep islands off Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    274 views3 pages

    Physical Features of India

    Uploaded by

    Manas Agrawal
    India has a wide variety of physical features formed by tectonic plate movement including mountains, plains, deserts and plateaus. The Himalayas in the north are young fold mountains and among the highest in the world. Central India contains the ancient Peninsular Plateau which is divided into the Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau. Coastal areas bordering the plateau include the Konkan and Malabar coasts in the west and the Northern Circar and Coromandel coasts in the east. Islands include the Lakshadweep islands off Kerala and the Andaman and Nicobar islands in the Bay of Bengal.

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    Physical features of India

    India has all major physical features of the Earth, i.e., mountains, plains, deserts, plateaus, and
    islands.

    In India, the soil colour varies from place to place as it is formed from different types of rocks.

    India has varied physical features whose formation can be explained on the basis of the ‘Theory
    of Plate Tectonics’.

    According to the theory of Plate Tectonics, the seven major and minor plates that form the
    Earth’s crust keep moving, causing stress and thus leading to folding, faulting and volcanic
    activity.

    The physical features of India can be grouped under the following physiographic divisions:

    The Himalayan Mountains or the Northern Mountains

    The Northern Plains or the Indo-Gangetic Plains

    The Peninsular Plateau

    The Great Indian Desert

    The Coastal Plains

    The Islands

    The Himalayan Mountains


    The Himalayas are young-fold mountains which are the loftiest and one of the most rugged
    mountain barriers of the world.

    The Himalayas are 2400 km long, 400 km to 150 km wide from Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh
    respectively.

    The Himalayas have three parallel ranges in the longitudinal extent namely :

    Great or Inner Himalayas also called Himadri.

    Middle Himalayas or Himachal.

    Outer Himalayas or Shiwaliks.

    The Himalayas can be divided into four sections :


    Punjab Himalayas – between Indus and Satluj.

    Kumaon Himalayas – between Satluj and Kali.

    Nepal Himalayas – between Kali and the Tista.

    Assam Himalayas (Eastern Himalayas) – Between Tista and the Dibang (Tsangpo).

    The Northern Plains


    The Northern Plains spread over an area of 7 lakh sq. km, 240 km long and 240 km to 320 km
    broad.

    The rivers that flow to the plains from the mountains are involved in depositional work.

    The difference in relief causes the Northern Plains to have four regions.

    Bhabar – Adjacent to the foothills of Shiwaliks, a narrow 8 to 16 km wide belt of pebbles and
    boulders.

    Bangar – Older alluvial plain which rises above the level of the flood plains.

    Khadar – Newer and younger alluvial of the flood plains deposited by the rivers flowing down
    the plain.

    Tarai – Lies adjacent to Bhabar region, composed of newer alluvium and is thickly forested.

    The Peninsular Plateau


    The Peninsular Plateau is the tableland formed due to the breaking and drifting of the
    Gondwanaland.

    The plateau consists of two broad divisions, namely, the Central Highlands and the Deccan
    Plateau.

    The eastward extensions of Peninsular Plateau are locally known as Bundelkhand and
    Baghelkhand. The Chhota Nagpur Plateau marks the further eastward extension drained by the
    Damodar river.

    The Deccan Plateau, a triangular mass, lies to the south of the river Narmada.

    The western and eastern edges of the Deccan Plateau are marked by the Western Ghats and the
    Eastern Ghats respectively.

    The Western Ghats are higher than the Eastern Ghats.


    The Malwa Plateau is spread across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat and slopes
    towards the north.

    A distinct feature of the peninsular plateau is the black soil area known as Deccan Trap.

    The Indian Desert


    The undulating sandy plain covered with sand dunes towards the western margins of the
    Aravalli Hills is the Indian Desert.

    Crescent-shaped dunes called barchans cover large parts of the Indian Desert.

    Luni is the only large river that flouts in this region.

    The Coastal Plains


    The narrow’ coastal strips flank the Peninsular Plateau.

    On the west, the coastal strips are divided into Konkan (Mumbai-Goa), Kannada Plain and the
    Malabar Coast from northern to the southern part.

    On the east the coastal strip is divided into Northern Circar and the Coromandel Coast from
    northern to southern part.

    The Islands
    The Lakshadweep Islands group in the Arabian Sea is close to Kerala.

    The Andaman and Nicobar Islands are the two island groups. Andaman Island consists of 204
    small islands. India’s only active volcano, Barren Island is situated here.

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