India has significant geographic diversity due to its complex geological history. The key physical features formed at different times include the Himalayan mountains in the north, which are young and formed by tectonic plate collisions; the older Peninsular Plateau containing hills and valleys in central and southern India; and the large, fertile Northern Plains formed by deposition of silt from the Indus, Ganges, and Brahmaputra river systems. These features continue to be shaped by ongoing plate tectonics and erosion processes.

1. Physical Features of
India

2. Contents :
• Physical features of India
• Theory of Plate Tectonics
• Movement of the Plates
• Plate Boundaries
• Major Physiographic Divisions
• The Himalayan Mountains
•The Northern Plains
•The Peninsular Plateau
•The Indian Dessert, The Coastal
Plains and the islands
• Conclusion

3. PHYSICAL FEATURES
OF INDIA
India is a vast country with varied landforms and physical
features. It has big Himalayas, Beaches in the south, The Thar
Desert in Rajasthan and the Deccan Plateau .
Hmm. . .think
about it!

4. Even the colour of the soil varies from one region to another. For
example: In Maharashtra we find both black soil and red soil. But,
in Madhya Pradesh we find only Red soil. This variation in soil is
due to the kind of rocks from which they are made.

5. The relief and physical features of India have evolved through
different geological periods. During the process of formation of
India as it looks today, The Indian landmass was subjected to:

6. The Physical features of India that you see today are the result
of all these processes.

7. No one knows how exactly India was formed. However, scientists
had several theories which try to explain the process. One such
theory is the “Theory of Plate Tectonics”.

8. According to this theory, the earth’s crust is formed out of seven majors and some
minor plates. When the plates move they cause disturbance in the continental
crust. When the plates move, it leads to:
In fact most volcanoes are located
at the edges of the Plates.
Movementsoftheplates

9. PlateBoundaries

10. Gondwanaland
“What split up
Gondwanaland?”
northward drift resulted in the collision of the plate
with the much larger Eurasian Plate.
originally consisted of a
number of land masses
including South
America, Africa,
Antarctica, Australia
and Indian subcontinent
all joined together.
Convectional currents
split the crust into a number of pieces, thus leading to
the drifting of the Indo-Australian plate after being
separated from the Gondwanaland, towards north. The

11. Due to this collision, the sedimentary rocks which were
accumulated in the Geosynclines known as the Tethys were
folded to form the mountain system of western Asia and
Himalaya. This uplift caused a depression in the north. This
depression formed a basin that concealed the sediment of river
flowing from the mountains. The area in the north which is rich
in fertile alluvial soil is called Northern Plains of India.
Different physical features of India formed at different times.
The oldest physical feature of India is the Peninsula Plateau. Its
composed of Igneous and Metamorphic rocks. And has hills and
wide valleys. The Himalayas are relatively younger physical
feature. They consists of High peaks, deep valleys and Rivers that
are fast flowing.

12. MajorPhysiographicDivisions
The physical features of India can be grouped under the following:
The Himalayan Mountains
The Northern Plains
The Peninsular Plateau
The Indian Dessert, the
Coastal plains and The
Islands
!

13. The Himalayan Mountains
The Himalayas are fold mountains which cover the northern part of
India. They are geologically young as compared to other mountain
ranges. The Himalayan range is the highest in the most rugged mountain
range in the world. It extends from river Indus in the west to the
Brahmaputra in the east. Forming an arc of about 2400
km. The width of this range varies
from 400km in Kashmir to 150km
in Arunachal Pradesh. Altitudes
of the mountains vary more than
western parts. The Himalaya
consists of three parallel ranges.
The Himadri, The Himachal and
The Shiwaliks.

14. Himadri
The northern most range is known as the Great or
Inner Himalaya or the ‘Himadri’. Its the most
continuous range consisting of loftiest peaks with
an average height of 6,000 metres. It contains the
highest Peaks.
The great Himalayan folds are asymmetrical in
nature. The core of this part of Himalayas is
composed of Granite. Its perennially snow bound,
and a number of glaciers descend from this range.
P

15. Himachal
The ranges lying to the south of the Himadri forms the
most rugged mountain system and is known as Himachal
or lesser Himalaya. The compressed and altered rocks.
The altitude varies between 3,700 and 4,500 metres and
the average width is of 50 km. While the Pir Panjal range
forms the longest and the most important range, the
Dhaula Dhar and the Mahabharata range are also
prominent ones. The range consists of the famous valleys
of Kashmir, The Kangra and Kullu Valley in Himachal
Pradesh. The region is well known for its hill Stations

16. Shiwaliks
The outer most range of the Himalayas is called the
Shiwaliks. They extend over a width of 10-50 km and
have an altitude varying between 900 and 1100 metres.
These ranges are composed of unconsolidated sediments
brought down by rivers from the main Himalayan
Ranges located farther north. These valleys are covered
with thick gravel and alluvium.
The longitudinal valley lying between lesser Himalaya
and the Shiwaliks are known as Duns, Dehra Dun, Kotli
Dun and Patli Dun are some of the well-known Duns.

17. The Himalayas are also divided into regions
from east to west and have been demarcated by
river valley. For example, the part of Himalayas
lying between Indus and Sutlej has been
traditionally known as Punjab Himalaya but it’s
also known as Kashmir and Himachal Himalaya
from west to east respectively.

18. The Northern Plain
The northern plain is located in southern part of the Himalayan range. It
has been formed by the interplay of three major river systems, namely-
The Indus, The Ganga and the Brahmaputra along with their tributaries.
The northern Plain is also known as Indo-Gangetic plain. This plain is
formed of alluvial soil. Alluvium was deposited by the three river systems
in the vast basin at the foothills of the Himalaya, forming this fertile
plain. It spreads over an area of 7 lakh sq. Km. The plain being about
2400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad, is a densely populated
physiographic division.
The material deposited by a river as its velocity reduces may create
riverine islands. Due to the deposition of huge quantity of silt, river split
into numerous channel, called distributaries.

19. The northern plain is broadly divided into three sections. The
Western part of the Northern plain is referred to as the Punjab
Plains. Formed by the Indus and its tributaries, the larger part of
this plain lies in Pakistan. The Indus and its tributaries- the
Jhelum, the Chenab, the Ravi, the Beas and the Sutlej originated
in the Himalaya. This section is dominated by the Doabs.
Doabs= Do+ab = two water,
Which means doab is a piece
of land which is drained by
two water bodies.

20. The Ganga plain extends between Ghaggar and Teesta rivers. It’s
spread over North India, Haryana, Delhi, U.P., Bihar, Partly
Jharkhand and West Bengal to its east, Particularly in Assam lies the
Brahmaputra Plain.
There is quite a bit of variety of relief features in the northern plain. It
can be divided into 4 regions:- Bhabar, Terai, Bhangar and Khadar.
The Bhabar region is a narrow belt of level surface, lying parallel to
the slope of the Shiwaliks. Its about 8 to 16 km in width and consists of
pebbles deposited by the rivers. Streams and rivers re-emerge and
create a wet ,swampy and marshy region known as Terai. The largest
part of the northern plain is formed of older alluvium and lie above
the food plains of the rivers and present a terrace like feature, this
part is known as Bhangar. The newer, younger deposits of the flood
plains are called Khadar.

21. Plateaus are also called Tablelands. The peninsular plateau is also a tableland. It
was formed due to breaking of Gondwanaland. It is composed of the old crystalline,
Igneous and Metamorphic rocks. The
Peninsular plateau consists of two
broad divisions: Central Highlands
and Deccan Plateau. The flow of the
rivers named Chambal, The sind, the
Betwa and ken is flowing from
southwest to northeast. The eastward
extensions locally known as the Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand. Chhotanagpur plateau
marks the further eastward extension, drained by the damodar river. The Western Ghats
and the Eastern Ghats mark the western and the eastern edges of the Deccan Plateau
respectively. The highest peaks include the Anai Mudi (2,695m) and the Doda Betta
(2,637m). Mahendragiri (1,501m) is the highest peaks in the Eastern Ghats. One of the
district features of the peninsular plateau is the black soil known as Deccan Trap, the
rocks are igneous and denuded over time and are responsible for the formation of it.
The Peninsular Plateau

22. The Indian Desert
The Indian Desert lies towards the western margins of the margins of
the Aravali Hills. This region receives very low rainfall below 150mm
per year. It has arid climate with low vegetation cover. Luni is the
only large river in this region. Barhans cover larger areas but
longitudinal dunes become near the Indo- Pakistan boundary.

23. The Coastal Plains
The Peninsular plateau in flanked by stretch, running along the Arabian
Sea on the west and the Bay of Bengal on the east. The western coast,
sandwiched between the western Ghats and the Arabian Sea, is a
narrow plain. The northern part of the coast is called the Konkan
(Mumbai-Goa), the central stretch is called the Kannad Plain while the
southern stretch is referred to as the Malabar coast.
The plains along the Bay of the Bengal are wide the level. In the
northern part, its 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 Lake. Lake Chilka is an important feature along
the eastern coast.

24. The Islands
Lakshadweep Islands is composed of the small coral
islands. They were earlier known as Laccadive,
Minicoy and Amindive, were named as Lakshadweep.
This island group has great diversity of flora and
fauna. The Pitti island, which is uninhabited, has a bird
sanctuary. These are Andaman and Niccobar islands.
The entire group of islands is divided into two broad
categories- The Andaman in the north and Niccobar in
the south. These island group are of great strategic
importance for the country.

25. LakshadweepIsland
AndamanandNicobar
Islands

26. A detailed account of the different Physiographic units
highlight the unique features of each region. It would,
however, be clear that each region complements the
other and makes the country richer in its natural
resources. The mountains are the major sources of the
water and forest wealth. The northern plains are the
Granaries of the country while the plateau is
storehouse of minerals. The coastal region and island
group provide sites for fishing and port activities. Thus,
the diverse physical features of the land have immense
future possibilities of development.
Conclusion

28. Features are marked by numbers in the given political map of India.
Identify these features with the help of the following information
and write their correct names on the lines marked in the map.
1 The highest mountain peak of Himalaya in India
2 A mountain pass in Sikkim
3 A mountain pass in Arunachal Pradesh

29. locate and label the following items on the given map
1 Naga hills
2 Mizo hills
3 Nanda Devi peak
4 Anai Mudi
5 Aravali range
6 Chhotanagpur plateau

30. Locate and label the following items on the given map
with appropriate symbols.
1 Garo and Khasi hills
2 Western Longitude
3 Kanchenjunga peak
4 Eastern ghats
5 Kaveri river

31. 1 River of Peninsular India that forms an estuary
2 A mountain range
3 A South India hill range
4. A South Indian hill range
5. Western Coastal strip in the North