Notes of Physical features of India, Geography- IX

Physical features of India Geography  Class- IX Chapter-2 • India has all major physical features of the Earth. The land of India displays g...

Physical features of India

Geography 

Class- IX

Chapter-2

• India has all major physical features of the Earth. The land of India displays great physical variation. 

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

# Theory of plate tectonics:  This theory tries to explain the formation of physical features of the earth according to the theory the crust ( upper part of the earth) has been formed out of 7 major plates. These plates keep moving, causing stress and the leading to folding, faulting and volcanic activity. 

# Plate movements: 

 The plate movement have been classified into three types

1.Convergent boundary  

2.Divergent boundary 

3.Transform boundary

* The oldest landmass was the peninsular part of the Gondwana land. 

* The Himalayan mountains have uplifted out of Tethys sea. 

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

i) The Himalayan Mountains or the Northern Mountains.
ii) The Northern Plains or the Indo-Gangetic Plains.
iii) The Peninsular Plateau
iv) The Great Indian Desert
v) The Coastal Plains
vi) The Islands

० 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 :
i) Great or Inner Himalayas also called Himadri.
ii) Middle Himalayas or Himachal.
iii) Outer Himalayas or Shiwaliks.

The Himalayas can be divided into four sections :
i) Punjab Himalayas – between Indus and Satluj.
ii) Kumaon Himalayas – between Satluj and Kali.
iii) Nepal Himalayas – between Kali and the Tista.
iv) Assam Himalayas (Eastern Himalayas) – Between Tista and the Dibang (Tsangpo). 

० 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.
i) Bhabar – Adjacent to the foothills of Shiwaliks, a narrow 8 to 16 km wide belt of pebbles and boulders.
ii) Bangar – Older alluvial plain which rises above the level of the flood plains.
iii) Khadar – Newer and younger alluvial of the flood plains deposited by the rivers flowing down the plain.
iv) Tarai – Lies adjacent to Bhabar region, composed of newer alluvium and is thickly forested.

० The Peninsular Plateau:

• The Peninsular Plateau is the tableland composed of the old crystalline, igneous and metamorphic rocks, formed due to the breaking and drifting of the Gondwanaland.One of the distinct features of the Peninsular plateau is the black soil area known as Deccan Trap.

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

# The Central Highlands: The part of the Peninsular plateau lying to the north of the Narmada river, covering a major area of the Malwa plateau, is known as the Central Highlands. The eastward extensions of this plateau are locally known as the Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand.

# The Deccan Plateau: It is a triangular landmass that lies to the south of the river Narmada. An extension of the Plateau is also visible in the northeast, which is known as the Meghalaya, Karbi-Anglong Plateau and North Cachar Hills.

• The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats mark the western and the eastern edges of the Deccan Plateau respectively. 

Western Ghats   
• lie parallel to the western coast.
• continuous and can be crossed through passes only.
• higher than the Eastern Ghats. Their average elevation is 900–1600 metres.
• Anamudi is the highest peak in the Western Ghats.

Eastern Ghats
• stretch from the Mahanadi Valley to the Nigiris in the South.
• discontinuous and irregular. They can be dissected by rivers draining into the Bay of Bengal.
• Their average elevation is 600 metres.
• Mahendragiri (1,501 metres) is the highest peak in the Eastern Ghats.

० 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.

• This region receives very low rainfall below 150mm per year. 

• It has a  dry climate with low vegetation cover. 
• Luni is the only large river that flows in this region.

० The Coastal Plains :

A coastal plain is a flat, low-lying piece of land next to the ocean. To the east and west of the peninsular plateau, 2 narrow strips of plain lands are found, which are respectively called Eastern Coastal Plain and Western Coastal Plain.

• Eastern Coastal Plain :

The Eastern Coastal Plains is a wide stretch of the landmass lying between the Eastern Ghats and the Bay of Bengal. In the northern part, it is referred to as the Northern Circar, while the southern part is known as the Coromandel Coast. Large rivers, such as the Mahanadi the Godavari, the Krishna and the Kaveri have formed extensive delta on this coast. Lake Chilika is an important feature along the eastern coast.

• Western Coastal Plain :

The western coast is sandwiched between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. It is a narrow plain and consists of 3 sections as mentioned below:

i) The northern part of the coast is called the Konkan (Mumbai – Goa)

ii) The central stretch is called the Kannad Plain

iii) The southern stretch is referred to as the Malabar coast

० The Islands :

An island is a piece of sub-continental land that is surrounded by water.

i) Lakshadweep Islands group is composed of small coral isalnds which were earlier known as Laccadive, Minicoy and Amindive.

* The Pitli island (uninhabited) has a bird sanctuary. 

* Coral polyps are short lived microscopic 

 which live in colonies. 

ii) Andaman and Nicobar islands : 

The entire group of islands is divided into two broad categories:

*The Andaman in the north

*The Nicobar in the south

These islands lie close to the equator and experience equatorial climate and have thick forest cover.

*India’s only active volcano, Barren Island is situated here.

० The diverse physical features of India have immense future possibilities of development because of the following reasons.

• The mountains are the major sources of water and forest wealth.

• The northern plains are the granaries of the country. They provide the base for early civilisations.

• The plateau is a storehouse of minerals, which has played a crucial role in the industrialisation of India.

• The coastal region and island groups provide sites for fishing and port activities.

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