1. Major Hills In India Upsc
2. Map Of India Rivers Upsc Recruitment
3. Map Of India Rivers Upsc Result
4. Upsc India Exam

Chapter 2: PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA

Introduction

List of Important River Dams in India PDF for SSC, UPSC. In this article, we will provide a list of important river dams in India including PDF for SSC,UPSC and other competitive govt job exams like SBI,IBPS, RRB NTPC, RRB Group D, SEBI, NABARD, LIC etc. Important question on dams are repeatedly asked in General Knowledge sections of the competitive examinations. Map Of India Rivers Upsc University; India has some of the highest mountain ranges and mountain roads in the world. India is home to seven major mountain ranges that have peaks of over 1000 metres. The most famous and the highest mountain range of India is the Himalayan range. It is also the youngest and the longest mountain range in India.

Indias latitudinal andlongitudinal extent is 30°.North-South distance is 3214 km and east west distance is2933 km. North liesin subtropical and warm temperate region and south lies intropics.

It is the 7^thlargest country with 3.28 million sq km and 2.4% of worldsland surface and 17%of the population. It has 6100 km of coast in mainland and7517 km along withthe islands.

Gujarat has the longest coastlineand Bangladeshshares the largest border with India. In all there are 7countries not counting Tibet that India shares a borderwith.

Indira point in Nicobar Islandsis the southernmosttip of India.

Physiography of India

• Physiography deals with the study of the surface features and landforms of the Earth. On the basisof tectonic history, stratigraphy and physiography, India may be divided into the following fourphysiographic divisions:




• The elevated Peninsular region




• The mighty Himalayas and their associated young folded mountains




• The Indo-Gangetic-Brahmaputra Plains




• The Coastal Plains and Islands.

Major Geological Formations of the Peninsular India(about 3600 million years ago)

• The North Central Highlands: They include First The Aravallis (It is one of the oldest folded mountains of the world). The Great Boundary Fault (GBF) separates the Aravallis from the Vindhyan Mountains. Secondly, Malwa Plateau has two drainage systems, one towards the Arabian Sea (Narmada, and Mahi], and another towards the Bay of Bengal (Chambal, Sind, Betwa and Ken) joining the Yamuna river. Finally the Vindhyan ranges (Maikal Range forms a connecting link between the Vindhyans and the Satpura mountains).




• The South Central Highlands: It has Bundelkhand and Vindhyachal-Baghelkhand or Vindhyachal Plateau.




• Chotanagpur plateau: Plateau sprawls over parts of West Bengal, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Odishaand northeastern part of Andhra Pradesh.




• Meghalaya Plateau and Mikir Hills: Consisting of the Garo, Khasi,Jaintia hills and the outlying Milar and Rengma hills, it is a plateauwhich has been detached from the Indian Peninsula by the Malda Gap.




• The North Deccan (Maharashtra Plateau):Plateau of Maharashtra includes the enti re state of Maharashtra, except the Konkan coast andthe Sahyadris.




• The South Deccan




• The Western Ghats:The Western Ghats or Sahyadris run parallel to the western coast for about 1600 km in the north south direction from the mouth of the Tapi river to Kanyakumari (Cape Camorin). Thewestern slope of Sahyadri is steep while the eastern slope is gentle. These are block mountainsformed due to the downwarping of a part of land into the Arabian Sea




• The Eastern Ghats

Physical Geography

The physical geography of Indiahas four parts:

1.Northernmountains.

2.Northernplains.

3.Peninsularplateau

4.Coastalplains.

Northern mountain:

The northern mountain complexcontains Himalayas, Trans Himalayas and Purvachal. Himalayas are in north, Hindukushand Sulaiman are in north west and Purvachal in east.

The Himalayas are truemountains. They are formedfrom the continent - continent plate collision. Theyhave sediments of marineorigin. It is not a single range but a series of ranges.

The Himalayas havethree ranges namely great Himalayas [Himadri] ,middle or lesser Himalayas [Himachal] andouter Himalayas [Shiwaliks].

Fig 1:Himalayan range

Types of Himalayas

1.Highestandmost continuous mountain range in the world. The Greater Himalayas are almost a contiguous range. The range has very few gaps mainly provided by the antecedent rivers. TheGreater Himalayas receive less rainfall as compared to the Lesser Himalayas and the Shiwaliks.Physical weathering is pronounced. Erosion is, however, less effective over the Greater Himalayasas compared to the Lesser Himalayas. Being lofty, they have very little forest area. The Greater Himalayas areabout 25 km wide with an average height above 6100 metres

2.Crystallinerocks.

MiddleHimalayas:

1.Lessinheight and discontinuous. The width of the Lesser Himalayas is about 80 km with an average height of 1300-4600 m. Itconsists, generally, of un-fossiliferous sediments or metamorphosed crystalline.

OuterHimalayas:

1.Upliftmentofthe foothills of the Himalayas. The Shiwaliks extend from Jammu Division of Jammu and Kashmir State to Assam. In width,Shiwaliks vary from 8 km in the east to 45 km in the west with an average elevation of about 900 - 1500 m above sea level. It is not a continuous range. It is broader in the west and narrows downIn the east. Between the Shiwaliks and the Lesser Himalayas are longitudinal valleys called Doons / Duns.

2.Theyarecreated due to the alluvial deposit of the Himalayanrivers.

Structure of Himalayas:

1.Themiddlebend is convex shape.

2.Secondsharpbend is towards southern end.

3.Westernbendtowards Nanga Parbat and eastern towards Namcha Barwa.

4.Northernsiderests against Tibetan plateau and southern side is coveredwith snow.Gentle slope on northern side and steep slope on southernside.

5.Themountainsdon’t act as a water divide but allow rivers to cutacross. The rateof erosion by rivers is greater than the rate ofupliftment of Himalayas.

TABLE 1: EASTERN AND WESTERN HIMALAYAS

Region - wise division of Himalayas

The Himalayas are divided intofive regions:

1.KashmirHimalayas

a.Karakoram,Ladakh, Zanskar, Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar are the rangesfrom north to southin that order. It hasthe largest number of glaciers in India.

b.Karewaformation– clay, sands from old fertile lands. Surroundedby the Greater Himalayas and the Lesser Himalayas is the Kashmir Valley. Having a height of1585 m above the sea-level, the total area of the Kashmir Valley is about 4920 sq km. It is a structurallongitudinal 'Dun'. A special feature of the the Vale of Kashmir is the Karewa (lacustrine)deposits consisting of silt, sand and clay. These karewas are mainly devoted to the cultivation ofsaffron and have orchards of apple, peach, almond, walnut and apricot. Kashmir Himalayas arecharacterised by high snow covered peaks, deep valleys, interlocked spurs and high mountain passes.

c.Lake Wular –largest freshwater lake of India locatedin Kashmir.

2. KumaonHimalayas:The Kumaon Himalayas areconnected to Tibet by a number of passes.

a.GarhwalandKumaon hills from west to east.

b.SourceofGanga and Yamuna. Located in Uttarakhand.

3.NepalHimalayas

a.Tallestsectionof the Himalayas. .

4.SikkimHimalayas: The highest peaks of the world like Mt. Everest (8850 m), Kanchenjunga {8598 m}, Makalu(8481 m), Dhaulagiri (8172 m), Annapurna (8078 m), Manaslu (8154 m) and Gosainath (8014 m)are situated in this part of the Himalayas. It has very few passes. The passes of Nathu-La and Jelep La(4538 min Sikkim) connect Gangtok (Sikkim) with Lhasa (Tibet, China).

5.AssamHimalayasOn the southern border of Arunachal Pradesh, the Himalayas take a southerly turn and theranges are arranged in a north-south direction. Passing through the states of Arunachal Pradesh(Tirap Division) Nagaland, Marripur, Trip ura, and Mizoram, the Himalayas are locally known as Purvachal. The Purvanchalis joined by the Meghalaya Plateau in the west. The extension of the Myanmar mountain chaincontinues southward up to Andaman and Nicobar Islands and even up to the Archipelago ofIndonesia.

Himalaya range isn't stable like western ghats

Debris,avalanches,landslides occur frequently in the Himalayas as they aretechtnically active, made up of sedimentary,unconsolidated or semiconsolidated rocks.

Theyhave steep slopes.

Nilgirisslightly techtonicallystable and have have hard rocks so land slides are lessfrequent. Howeverdirect rockfall is seen due to steep slopes, heavy rainsand mechanicalweathering due to temperature and escarpments.

Dun:

When rivers are obstructed bymountains they spreadout to form lakes. The lakes dry up when the rivers findpaths through themountains. These dried up lakes are called “duns”. Theyare found between greatand middle Himalayas.

Importance of Himalayas:

1.PreventscoldSiberian winds from entering into India.

2.Himalayasareresponsible for rainfall in north east. Also without themthere would be no Tibet plateau and India would have beena desert.

3.Theysplitthe sub tropical jet streams into two bringing winter rainto India.

4.Sourceofperennial rivers.

5.Greatforestand mineral wealth.

The Syntaxial Bends of the Himalayas

• The general east-west trend of the Himalayas terminates suddenly at its western and easternextremities and the ranges are sharply bent southward in deep knee-bend turns which are calledsyntaxial bends.




• The western syntaxial bend is near Nanga Prabat where the Indus has cut a deepgorge.




• There is a similar hair-pin bend in Arunachal Pradesh where the mountains take a sharp bend from the eastern to southern direction after crossing the Brahmaputra river.

Main Passes of Himalayas

• Bomdi La :Connects Arunachal Pradeshwith Lhasa, the capital of Tibet.




• Dihang Pass: Connects Arunachal Pradesh with Mandalay (Myanmar).




• Khardung La: Situated at an elevation of more than six thousand meters above sea level, it is the highestmotorable pass in the country. It joins Leh with Siachin glacier. The roadremains closed during the winter season.




• Lipu Lekh (Uttarakhand): Connects Uttarakhand withTibet. The pilgrims for Mansarovar Lake travel through this pass

Purvanchal:

Themountainshave same orogeny as the main Himalayas. From north to south themountains are patkai, naga and mizo hills. The elevationdecreases from northto south.

Patkaihills– border between Arunachal Pradesh and Myanmar.

Manipuri hills – border between Manipuriand Myanmar. Manipur has loktak lake and Mizoram hasmolassis basin which are softunconsolidated deposits.

AndamanandNicobar islands are extension of eastern Himalayas.

Fig2: Purvachal

Importance of Himalayas

• Climatic Influence :The altitude of the Himalayas, their sprawl and extensionintercept the summer monsoon coming from the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea. They alsoprevent the cold Siberian air masses from entering into India. Had there been no Himalayas, thewhole of northern India would have been a desert. The Himalayas are responsible for the splitting of the jet streams into two branches, andthese in turn, play an important role in the arrival, success and failure of the monsoons in India.




• Defence :Throughout history, the foreign invaders never entered India from the northern side. Despite moderntechnology of warfare, the Himalayas have great defence value.




• Source of Perennial Rivers: Most of the perennial rivers of northern India have their origin in the glaciers, lakes, and springsof the Himalayas.




• Source of Fertile Soils :The perennial rivers and their tributaries carry enormous quantities of alluvial soils which are deposited in Great Plains of India.




• Generation of Hydro-electricity:




• Forest Wealth: There is horizontal zonation of vegetationin the Himalayas. The natural vegetation in the Himalayas varies from the humid tropical to the conifers and alpine pastures. At the higher altitudes are the alpine pastures (margs) used by the tribals for grazing cattle during the summer season.




• Orchards, minerals, tourism and pilgrimage

Northern plains:

Youngestphysiographicfeature in India. Depositional flood plain created by Himalayanriverslike Indus, Ganga, Brahmaputra and Yamuna.

Denselypopulatedwith 30% of worlds population on 10% of worldsagricultural land.

Partofthe northern plains:

1. Babhar – alluvialfans of rivers withcourse boulders and not suitable for cultivation.
2. Khadar – new floodplains with veryfertile soil
3. Bangar – old floodplains with calcerouskanker formation; less fertile
4. Terai – bad drainagewith swampy land.
   

Northplainsis divided into four parts:

1.Rajasthan plains

·Formed west of Indus.

·Drained by Luni whichis located west of Aravalli

·Thar desert is atropical desert formeddue to off shore trade winds and Aravalli rangeis parallel to south westmonsoon so no orographic rains.

2.Punjabplains

·Drained by Ravi, Sutlej,Beas

·Khadar plains arepresent but badtopography causes bad drainage.

3.Gangeticplains

4.Assamplains

·Drained by Brahmaputra- the largestriver of India by volume.

Fig 3: Northernplain

Peninsular plateau:

Itiscovered by western ghats and eastern ghats and in thenorth by the centralhighlands. The Deccan traps were formed when Indian plateflowed over reunionisland. The basaltic flow created layer over layer and itlooks like steps. Itis higher than northern plains.

Vindhyanrange: source of many north flowing rivers thatmeet Yamuna. It represents thewater divide of central India. Mahi from north side of Vindhyaalso is a westflowing river.

Malawaplateau – between Aravalli and Vindhya range.

Satpudarange – has the Amarkantak plateau which issource of Narmada and son.

Meghalayaplateau – Garo, Khasi, Jaintia hills and Barailrange in line. The hills aren'tvery high so ineffective in blocking rain winds. These areblocked at Arunachal Pradesh.

Fig4: Peninsular plateau

Narmadaandtapti are old rift valleys. Worlds largest freshwaterlakes are riftvalleys.

Western Ghats: UNESCO World Heritage Site

Theyareextending from Maharashtra to Kerela. In Maharashtra theyare steeper andhigher. In Karnataka they are broader. In Kerela they areisolated hills withgaps that allow rain winds to pass through them.

Heightof the Western ghats decreases from north to south.

Theairparcel that passes over the hills retain energy but asthey take longer thedroplets precipitate into rain.

Anaimudiisthe highest peak in the Deccan.

Eastern Ghats

Discontinuousrangebut with lower heights in the mountains. Laterite soil ispresent.Coromandel coast lies between eastern Ghats and bay ofBengal.

BayofBengal has 572 islands out of which 2 main islets arerichiesand labyrinth island.

Andamanand Nicobar are separated by the 10° channel andLakshadweepby 11° channel. Barren island in Nicobar is india's onlyactive volcano.

Southern hill complex:

Theyarenot a part of the western or eastern ghats. From north tosouth the hillsare:

Nilgiri,Palani, Anamalai and Cardamom. Palghat pass between Nilgiriand Anamalai hills.

Nallamala,Javadi too are hill ranges in the south but above theabove hills.

Thewesternand the eastern ghats meet at Nilgiri hills.

Fig5: Southern hill complex

Importance of Deccan plateau:

1.Oldest and moststable region.

2.Rich in mineralwealth.

3.98% of Gondwana coal

4.Peninsular soil isblack cotton soil orregur soil. Plantation of tea, coffee, rubber, cashews andsugarcane.

Major Hills In India Upsc

Coastal Plain:

Itextends from Rann of Kutch to Sunderbans. It has two parts westerncoastalplain and eastern coastal plain.

Western coastal plain:

1.Narrower and steeperwith fast flowingrivers but no deposits.

2.Rivers form estuariesnot deltas.

3.Good for portdevelopment

4.Has two gulfs: kutchhand khambat.

5.Coast are two: Konkanand Malabar.

Eastern coastal plain:

1.Broader and withlarge rivers that formdelta.

2.Chilika lake –biggest salt water lakein India.

Q.Consider the following pairs :
Medieval Indian State : Present Region
1. Champaka : Central India
2. Durgara : Jammu
3. Kuluta : Malabar
Which of the above pairs is/are correctly matched? (UPSC CSAT 2015)

• 1 and 2




• 2 only




• 1 and 3




• 3 only

Ans . B

1. The ninth century saw the rise of a number of hill states in the Himalayas, some of which maintained their identity until recent years, despite their wars with each other and the frequent raids from the men of the plains.

2. States such as Champaka (Chamba – Himachal Pradesh), Durgara (Jammu), Trigarta (jalandhar), Kuluta (Kulu – Himachal pradesh), Kumaon and Garhwal managed to remain outside the main areas of conflict in the northern plains.

Q.Consider the following rivers :
1. Vamsadhara
2. Indravati
3. Pranahita
4. Pennar
Which of the above are tributaries of Godavari? (UPSC CSAT 2015)

• 1,2 and 3




• 2,3 and 4




• 1,2 and 4




• 2 and 3 only

Map Of India Rivers Upsc Recruitment

Ans . D

1. Left tributaries: Purna, Pranahita, Indravati, Sabari, Taliperu, Wainganga, Penganga, Wardha, Dudhana

2. Right tributaries: Pravara, Manjira, Pedda Vagu, Manair, Kinnerasani

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