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Physical Features of India
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Physical Features of India

Last Updated : 22 Apr, 2025
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Physical Features of India: India is a place that is known for its variety of habits. From culture, economy, and, surprisingly, the scene of India has assorted components, all on one body of land. The wide scope of actual elements of India makes the country a total geological review. India has each conceivable scene that the earth has. From cold mountains to deserts, immense fields, hot and sticky levels, and wide beaches and tropical islands, the actual highlights of India cover each territory.

India Physical Map- Physical Features

Physical features of India
Physical Features of India

Origin of Indian Landforms

Over millions of years back, the Peninsular Plateau region was part of Gondwana Land, which constituted mostly India, Australia, South Africa and South America. With continuous shift of landmasses as well as ocean currents, had broken the landmass into many pieces. One of the pieces is that of Indo- Australian plate, which has started to shift north, and where it collided with Eurasian plate. This collision led to folding processes, of what we know today as Himalayas. Many other such processes has led to formation of physical features in India.

Main Physical Features of India

The actual elements of India can be partitioned into six general classifications as per their physiographic structures:

Himalayan Mountain

The northernmost scene of the nation features the overlay heaps of the Himalayas. Although the Himalayas are a young topography, they are the highest and toughest mountains in the world. Since they stretch across 2500 KM from Kashmir in the north, through Arunachal Pradesh in the North East, these mountains structure a circular segment. This helps hold the cool cold breezes back from arriving at the tropical expanse of land.

One of the most huge of the multitude of actual highlights of India, the Himalayas differ in width between 400 Km to 150 KM. Moreover, the whole mountain belt is separated into three primary segments It has pinnacles that can reach up to 6000 meters above sea level and are part of the Greater Himalayas.

  • The Lesser Himalayas with normal pinnacles as high as 4000 meters
  • The Outer Himalayas or the Shivalik Range
  • In North Bengal as well as the northernmost parts of northeastern states, the Eastern Hills or Purvanchal are located.

Northern Plains

The lower areas of the Himalayas have been covered by the three important drainage systems of India: the Ganges, the Indus, and the Brahmaputra. Since these waterway bowls had an immense measure of alluvial stores from these frosty streams, these locales developed ripe for more than many years and prompted the Northern Plains. It is also possible to compartmentalize the Northern Plains into three large sections:

  • A large portion of those fields lie in Pakistan, which is the source of the Indus River and its feeders
  • There are several plains along the Ganges that encompass Haryana, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and Jharkhand.
  • Assam and the other states in the North Eastern region are contained within the Brahmaputra Plains

Peninsular Plateau 

The most established expanse of land in India, the Peninsular Plateau was the aftereffect of the structural movements of the Gondwana Land. This monstrous level region is additionally separated as-

  • The Central Highlands cover a large part of the Malwa Plateau and are located to the north of the Narmada River.  
  • Located on the south bank of the Narmada River, the Deccan Plateau is a triangle-shaped expanse of land. The Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats line the Deccan level on its eastern and western sides separately. While the Satpura mountain ranges stand in their northern part, the Western Ghats have a higher rise with the greatest level of 1600 meters. Then again, the Eastern Ghats reach a limit of 600 meters in level.

Indian Desert 

The undulating sandy fields covered with sand rise on the western edges of the Aravalli Hills including the Indian Desert. With precipitation as low as 150 mm for each annum, this district is the aridest in the nation and hence, falls short of plant life. The territories of Rajasthan and northwestern pieces of Gujarat by and large structure the desert district.

Coastal Plains

Right on the external edges of the Indian landmass, lies the tight portions of the beachfront fields.   From the East, it covered the coasts of the Bay of Bengal, while in the West, it covered those of the Arabian Sea. The western coast along the Arabian Sea can again be isolated into three segments

  1. Eastern Coastal Plain: Overlooking the Eastern Ghats and then the Bay concerning Bengal, the Eastern Coastal Plains are a vast expanse of beaches. The north part, such is known as the Northern Circar, whereas the south is called the Coromandel Coast. A large delta on the coast is framed by many large streams, such as the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, and Kaveri. Despite its size, Lake Chilika causes a great deal of concern on the Japanese coast. 
  2. Western Coastal Plain: the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea from the western coast. These are the three segments that make up this part of the coast:  
  3. The northern piece of the coast is known as the Konkan (Mumbai - Goa). The focal stretch is known as the Kannad Plain. The southern stretch is alluded to as the Malabar coast

Islands 

Two gatherings of islands lie on the two seas encompassing the primary body of land of the subcontinent. These most probably complete the actual elements of India. Furthermore, the island area is separated by the central area as well as the oceans. In this way shaping two significant island states-

  • The Lakshadweep lies nearer to the Malabar Coast. Furthermore, these consist of small groupings of coral islands that are commonly known as Lakshadweep.  
  • These Indian Ocean islands are off the coast of the Bay of Bengal and are situated in the Andaman and Nicobar regions. These gathering of islands are bigger in size than their western partners and have a rich biodiversity. Since the Andaman and Nicobar Islands are nearer to the equator, the district additionally encounters a central environment.
  • In view of the accompanying reasons, India has various real potentialities for future development. Mountainous regions provide significant water resources and woodland habitats. The northern fields are the silos of the country. The earliest civilizations are built on them. The level is a storage facility of minerals, which plays had an essential impact on the industrialization of India. Fishing and boating are popular activities on the waterfront and around the island clusters.

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