Physical Features of India

Physical Features Of India

 India has a lot of diversity in its physical features. In the north, there is an enormous expanse of rugged topography with a series of mountain ranges, valleys and deep gorges. In the south, there is a stable tableland with plateaus and a developed series of scarps. And in between the north and the south, there lie the north Indian plains.

Physical Variations of India

• The Peninsular Plateau constitutes one of the ancient land masses on the Earth’s surface. It consists of igneous and metamorphic rocks with gently rising hills and wide valleys
• The Himalayas and the Northern Plains are the recent landforms

• Youthful topography of the Himalayas: It can be seen with high peaks, deep valleys, and fast-flowing rivers
• Northern plains: These are formed of alluvial deposits

Major Physiographic Divisions

• The Himalayan Mountains

• • The Northern Plains
  • The Peninsular Plateau
  • The Indian Desert
  • The Coastal Plains

• • The Islands

The Northern Plain

• The Northern Plains came into existence by the alluvial deposits brought by the major Himalayan rivers-the Ganga, the Indus and the Brahmaputra. It is formed of alluvial soil, which makes it fertile and a densely populated physiographic division
• The northern plain spreads over an area of 7 lakh sq. km
• It is about 2400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad
• It is an agriculturally productive area due to rich soil cover combined with an adequate water supply and favourable climate
• Various riverine islands are formed as the velocity of the river decreases in the lower course due to the gentle slope
• The rivers form various distributaries in the lower course as they split into numerous channels due to the deposition of silt
  
  The Himalayan Mountains

The Himalayas comprises mountain ranges that run parallel to each other. Great Himalayas and the Shivalik are some important ranges of the Himalayan range. The approximate length of the great Himalayan range is around 2500 km from east to west, and their width is around 160-400 km from north to south.

The Peninsular Plateau

This plateau is one of the oldest and most stable landmasses of India. The elevation of this plateau is from west to east. Block mountains, rift valleys, rocky structures, and tors are some physiographic features of this region. Black soil is present in the western and the northwestern part of this plateau.
This plateau is further classified into three groups:

• The Deccan plateau
• The central highlands
• The northeastern plateau

The Indian Desert

The great Indian desert is located northwest of the Aravali hills. Here rainfall is very low i.e. below 150 mm per year and that results in an arid climate and low vegetation cover in this area. It is a common belief that this area was under the sea in the Mesozoic era. The majority of rivers in this area are ephemeral, high evaporation and low rainfall make it a water-deficit region. The desert is divided into two parts:

• The northern part slopes towards Sindh
• The southern part slopes towards the Rann of Kutch

The Coastal Plains

India has a long coastline from the east to the west. These plains are divided into two on the basis of geomorphological processes:
(i) the western coastal plains
(ii) the eastern coastal plains.

Western coastal plains extend from Gujarat in the north to the Kerala coast in the south. The city of Dwaraka which was part of the mainland along the west coast is submerged underwater, and this submersion gives natural conditions for the development of ports and harbours. 

On the other hand, the eastern coastal plain is an example of an emerging coast and due to this feature it has fewer ports and harbours, there are also well-developed deltas in this region.

The Islands

India has two major island groups-one in the Bay of Bengal and the other in the Arabian Sea. The Bay of Bengal islands are known as the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, these islands consist of a group of 572 islands. They are separated by a water body called the ten-degree channel.

The Arabian Sea islands include Lakshadweep and Minicoy. These islands are built up of coral deposits and are situated at a distance of 280-480 km from the coast of Kerala.

Conclusion

The physical features of India consist of 6 plains and each one of them plays a pivotal role in describing India’s physical characteristics. Like mountains in the Himalayas protect us from the cold wave which comes from Siberia and Central Asia. Many rivers originate from the Himalayas which plays a very important role in northern India including Delhi, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and the northeast area. The northern plains which are very fertile in nature help the rivers bring sediments from the Himalayas. The Peninsular plateau has its own importance, as it is composed mostly of gneisses and schist. It also gives a good yield of cotton and sugarcane. Coastal plains which are sedimented by both rivers and sea have natural harbours and these coastal plains are also good for agriculture. The island has two groups, namely Andaman and Nicobar and Lakshadweep. From Andaman and Nicobar we get tropical crops like rice, coconut, areca nut, banana while Lakshadweep has fishing as its main occupation.