Our Country India: Location and Physical Divisions

1. Name the physical divisions of India?

There are six major divisions based on its physical features
1. The Northern Mountains
2. The Northern Plains
3. The Thar Desert
4. The Peninsular Plateau
5. The Coastal Plains
6. The Island Groups

2. What are Northern Mountains?

Ans: The Northern Mountains:
1. The mountain ranges that form a wall across north India are together known as the
Northern Mountains.
2. Most of them originate in the Pamir knot in the central Asia and run parallel to each
other.
3. The northern most of these parallel ranges consist of the Zanskar range, the Ladakh
range and the Karakoram range.
4. The south of these, extend the massive Himalayan Mountain Ranges.

4.The Himalayan Ranges:

a. They extend for almost 2500 km from the Indus river in the west to the Brahmaputra
river in the east.
b. The width of these ranges from 400 km west to 150 km in the east.
c. Himalayas consists of three parallel ranges namely: Himadri, Himachal, Shiwalik and an
eastern extension called Purvanchal Hills.
 i. Himadri or Greater Himalayas:
 This is the northernmost range of the Himalayas.
 The tallest peak that lie in India are Kanchenjunga and Nandadevi
 Many glaciers like Gangotri and Bara Shigri lie in Himadri

ii. Himachal or Lesser Himalayas:

• This lie to the south of the Himadri mountain range
• The Pir Panjal and Dhauladhar are important mountain ranges in Himachal
• Some hills stations like Kullu, Nainital, Shimla, Mussoorie, Manali and Darjeeling are
part of this range

iii. Shiwalik or Outer Himalayas:

 This is the southernmost Himalayan range
 It is the youngest part of the Himalayas and hence it is made of loose rocks
 Lovely open valleys known as duns are common here
 The Terai forests lie at the foothills of the Shiwalik

iv. The Purvanchal Hills:

 These are the eastern extension of Himalayas
 The Arakan Yoma, Bago and Lushai Hills lie on the boundary between Indian and
Myanmar
 The Khasi and Jaintia Hills lie at the point where the Purvanchal Hills meet
Meghalaya Plateau

3. Explain Northern plains?

Ans:
1. To the south of the northern mountains lie vast stretched of flatland that extends from
the Arabian sea in the west to the Bay of Bengal in the east. They are known as
northern plains.
2. They have been formed by the rich alluvium deposited by the three main rivers -
Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra
3. This makes northern plain extremely fertile.

The northern plains are divided into three sections

a. The Indus plains or Punjab Plains:
 It originates in Tibet and drains in Arabian sea
 Jhelum, Chenab, Beasm Ravi and Sutlej are the principal tributaries of Indus river
 They flow over Pakistan, Punjab and Haryana

b. The Ganga Plains

 It originates in Gangotri and drains in Bay of Bengal
 Yamuna, Gomti, Ghaghra, Gandak, Kosi, Son and Damodar are the main tributaries
of River Ganga
 They stretch over Uttar Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West
Bengal
 c. The Brahmaputra Plains
 It originates in Tibet and drains in Bay of Bengal
 It flows through Arunachal Pradesh, Assam in India before joining Ganga in
Bangladesh.
 River Ganga and Brahmaputra deposit huge amounts of sediment and form the largest
fertile delta in the world known as Suderbans.

4. Explain Peninsular Plateau

Ans:
 The peninsular plateau of India lie to the south of the Northern plains.
 They are made of Igneous and Metamorphic rocks
 It is the oldest landforms of India
 It consists of two main parts – Central Highlands and Deccan Plateau

1. Central Highlands: They lie south of the Northern plains and north of Satpura
Range. They are sub-divided into Malwa plateau and Chota Nagpur plateau
a. Malwa Plateau:
 This plateau is bordered by the Aravalli range in the north-west and the Vindhya
moutains in the south-east.
 Chambal, Betwa, Narmada and Tapti rivers flow in this region
 Mount Abu is the highest peak in this region
b. Chota Nagpur Plateau:
 This lie to the east of the Malwa plateau
 Subarnarekha and Damodar drain in this region.
 It has rich deposits of iron ore, coal and limestone

2. Deccan Plateau:
 They lie south of the Satpura range and the Narmada river.
 It has rich deposits of iron ore, coal.
 The western and eastern edges of the Deccan plateau consists of mountain ranges
known as Western ghats and Eastern ghats.
 Western ghats stretch from eastern Gujarat to Kanniyakumari
 Eastern ghats stretch from northern Orrissa to Kanniyakumari
 Important rivers in this region: Kaveri, Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi
5. Explain Thar or the Great Indian Desert
Ans:
 The Thar desert or the Great Indian Desert is a vast stretch of dry land that lies to
the south-west of the Ganga Plains and west of Aravalli hills.
 It covers major part of Rajasthan and extends into Pakistan.
  The desert consists of low hills called bhakars
 Dry salt lake beds called dhands are found here
 Sambhar is the largest salt water lake in India and it is part of Thar desert

6. Write the difference between eastern coastal plain and western coastal plain
Western Coastal Plain Eastern Coastal Plain
This lie between the western ghats and This lie between eastern ghats and Bay of
Arabian sea Bengal
They are narrow They are broader than western ghats
They run from Gulf of Kuchch to They extend from mouth from of Ganga river
Kanniyakumari to Kanniyakumari

7. The Island Groups

Ans: There are two island groups that are a part of India:
1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands 2. Lakshadweep Islands
1. Andaman and Nicobar Islands
 These are the group of 300 islands on the Bay of Bengal.
 Most of these are volcanic islands
 The Andaman is separated from Nicobar Island by Ten Degree Channel.
2. Lakshadweep Islands:
 These are a group fo 36 coral islands
 It is the smallest union territory of India