Physical Features

image sources: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Physical_Map_of_India.jpg

Indian subcontinent can be divided into the following physical division

• The Great mountain wall of the north
• The Great northern plains
• The Great Peninsular Plateaus
• The Coastal Plains
• The Great Indian Desert
• The Island Groups

The Great Mountain wall of the North

The Himalayas

• The highest mountain wall of the world is situated on the northern boundary of India like an arc
• West to East the Himalayas is 2500 km long.
• The average breadth of the Himalayas is between 250 to 400 km.
• Mount Everest the highest peak in the world, lies in these mountains in Nepal.

Division of the Himalayas

The Himalayas consist of three parallel mountain ranges

• The Greater Himalayas
• The Lesser Himalayas
• The Outer Himalayas

The Greater Himalayas or Himadri

• This is the loftiest of the three ranges of the Himalayas.
• Mount Everest lies in this range
• The Ganga originates from this glacier

Major Passes of India

S.no	Passes	States	S.no	Passes	States
1	Karakoram	Jammu Kashmir	8	Mana	Uttarakhand
2	Zoji La	Laddakh	8	Niti	Uttarakhand
3	Pir Panjal	Jammu Kashmir	10	Nathu La	Sikkim
4	Banihal	Jammu Kashmir	11	Jelep La	Sikkim
5	Burzil	Jammu Kashmir	12	Bomdial	Arunachal Pradesh
6	Shipki La	Himachal Pradesh	13	Tuju	Manipur
7	Rohtang La	Himachal Pradesh	14	Lipulekh	Uttarakhand

 

The Lesser Himalayas or the Himachal Himalayas

• It lies between the Himadri and Siwalik ranges.
• The average height of this range is 4000m.
• The average width of this range is 60-80 km

Important ranges in this are-

Dhaula Dhar, Pir Panjal

Famous Hill Station

Shimla, Mussoorie, Nainital are located in this range

Heights of Major Mountain Peaks in India

Peaks	Elevation in mts
Godwin Austen	8,611
Kanchenjunga	8,586
Nanga Parvat	8,126
Nanda Devi	7,817
Rakaposhi	7,788
Kamet	7,756
Saser Kangri I	7,672

 

The outer Himalayas or Shiwaliks

It is the outermost range. The average height of this range is as much as 1000 Metres. The average width of this range is almost 10-50 KM. Valleys that lies between the Himachal and Siwalik are called Duns

Shavlik range is broader in the west

Local Division of Himalayas

Division	Length Km	Expansion
Punjab Himalaya	560	Middle of Indus and Sutlej Rivers
Kumaon Himalaya	320	Middle of Sutlej and Black Rivers
Nepal Himalaya	800	Middle or Black and Teesta Rivers
Assam Himalaya	720	Middle of Teesta and Dihang Rivers

 

The Great Northern Plains

The northern plains are divided into three subdivisions.

• The Punjab Plains
• The Ganga Plains
• The Brahmaputra valley

1. The Punjab and Haryana Plains represent a part of the Indus basin. A low watershed separates these plains from the Ganga Plains
2. The Ganga plain has an extremely gentle slope. Part of the plain are subject to floods in the rainy season. In the lower course, the Ganga divides itself into tributaries to form a large delta along with the Brahmaputra
3. The Ghaghara, the Gandak, the Kosi, etc. are other tributaries of the Ganga
4. The Yamuna is the most important tributary of the Ganga

The Great Peninsular Plateau

Rising from the height of 150 m above the river plains up to an elevation of 600-900 m is the irregular triangle known as the Peninsular plateau.

The peninsular plateau is located on the Anaimalai Hills of the Western Ghats followed by Dodabetta (2,637 m) on the Nilgiri hills

The Rajmahal Hills in the east, Gir range in the west, and the Cardamom Hills in the south constitute the outer extent of the Peninsular plateau

Peninsular India is made up of a series of patland plateaus such as the Hazaribagh plateau, the Palamu plateau, the Ranchi plateau, the Malwa plateau, the Coimbatore plateau, and the Karnataka plateau, etc.

The Peninsular plateau can be divided into three broad groups:

1. The Deccan Plateau
2. The Central Highlands
3. The Northeastern Plateau.

• Anamudi or Anaimudi (2,695m) situated in the Sahyadri range is the highest peak of the peninsula
• The eastern edge of the plateau is known as the Eastern Ghats
• The Godavari, the Mahanadi, the Krishna, and the Cauvery are the major rivers that have built deltas along the coast.
• Narmada and Sone rivers originate at Amarkantak
• The Narmada and the Tapti rivers are west-flowing rivers and do not have deltas. Both the rivers enter the Arabian Sea along the Gujarat coast

 The Deccan Plateau

• This is bordered by the Western Ghats in the west, the Eastern Ghats in the east and the Satpura, Maikal range and Mahadeo hills in the north.
• The Western Ghats are locally known by different names such as Sahyadri in Maharashtra, Nilgiri hills in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, and Anaimalai hills and Cardamom hills in Kerala.
• The Western Ghats are comparatively higher in elevation and more continuous than the Eastern Ghats. Their average elevation is about 1,500 m with the height increasing from north to south.

The Central Highlands

• They are bounded to the west by the Aravali range.
• The Satpura range is formed by a series of scarped plateaus on the south, generally at an elevation varying between 600-900 m above the mean sea level. This forms the northernmost boundary of the Deccan plateau.
• An eastern extension of the Central Highland is formed by the Rajmahal hills, to the south of which lies a large reserve of mineral resources in the Chotanagpur plateau.

The Northeastern Plateau

• In fact, it is an extension of the main Peninsular plateau.
• This can be corroborated by the evidence available at wood fossils park at Aakal and marine deposits around Brahmsar, near Jaisalmer
• The desert can be divided into two parts:
• The northern part is sloping towards Sindh and the south towards the Rann of Kachchh.
• Most of the rivers in this region are ephemeral.
• The Luni River flowing in the southern part of the desert is of some significance.

Eastern Ghats

It comprises the discontinuous and low hills that are highly eroded by the river such as the Mahanadi, the Godavari, the Krishna, and the Kaveri.

Some of the important ranges include the Javadi hills, the Velikonda range, the Nallamali hills, the Mahendragiri hills, etc.

Western Ghats

They form the western edge of the Deccan tableland.

Run from the Tapi valley (21° N latitude) to a little north of Kanniyakumari (11° N latitude) for a distance of 1,600 km.

The Western Ghats abruptly rise as a sheer wall to an average elevation of 1,000 m from the Western Coastal Plain.

The Great Indian Desert

• It lies to the west of the Aravalli range. It extends over a major part of Rajasthan and Sindh in Pakistan
• This dessert does not get much rain as the Aravalli range running parallel to the southwestern monsoon winds
• It is in the rain shadow area of the Bay of Bengal current
• Lake Sambhar is found here

The Coastal Plains

Narrow strips of flat Land on eastern and western coasts are known as the East Coastal Plain and the west Coastal Plain respectively

The west coastal Plain

• This plain which lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghats spreads from Gujarat in the north to Kanyakumari in the south
• It is broader in the north and narrower in the south. This uneven plain has been dissected by many fast-flowing rivers.
• Its northern part from Goa to Kanyakumari is known as Malabar.

The East Coastal Plain

• This broader coastal plain spreads along the Bay of Bengal from Odisha in the north to Kanyakumari in the south
• Its northern part is known as the Northern Circar plains and the southern part is called Coro Mandal Coast
• Rivers like Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Cauvery forms deltas on this plain

Western Coast	Eastern Coast
Kandla (child of partition)	Kolkata-Haldia (riverine port)
Mumbai (busiest and biggest)	Paradip (exports raw iron to Japan)
Jawahar Lal Nehru (fastest growing)	Vishakhapatnam (deepest port)
Marmugao (naval base also)	Chennai (oldest and artificial)
Mangalore (exports Kudremukh iron-ore)	Ennore (most modern-in private hands)
Cochin (natural Harbour)	Tuticorin (southernmost )

 

The Island Groups

• The major islands groups of India are the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago in the Bay of Bengal and the Lakshadweep Islands in the Arabian Sea.
• Lakshadweep is a group of 36 coral islands in the Arabian Sea. It is located 300 km to the west of the coast of Kerala
• Andaman and Nicobar islands are a group of about 572 islands