2 Flashcards
India’s geological divisions
Based on the different geological structure and formations, India is divided into three geological divisions, as follows:
The Peninsular Block
The Himalayan and other Peninsular mountains
Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra plains
The north eastern part of the peninsular block is separated from the main block by
The north eastern part of the block is separated from the main block by the Malda Fault in West Bengal in Chota Nagpur Plateau
The rift valleys of Narmada, Mahanadi, Tapi and Satpura block mountains are examples of?
- Peninsular block is formed by ancient gneisses and granites and has been a rigid mass of block standing since the Cambrian period except for the western part, where a part of it is submerged beneath the sea
• The block was a part of Indo-Australian plate
• During tectonic activity, vertical movements resulted in faulting. The rift valleys of Narmada, Mahanadi, Tapi and Satpura block mountains are examples.
Peninsula consists mostly of relics and residuals like ?
Peninsula consists mostly of relics and residuals like Aravali ranges, Nallamala hills, Javadi hills, Veliconda hills, Palkonda range and Mahendragiri hills.
The east flowing rivers like ____, _____ and _____ form delta in Bay of Bengal.
Many rivers flow through this Peninsular block. The east flowing rivers like Mahanadi, Krishna and Godavari form delta in Bay of Bengal.
The west flowing rivers are?
Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada, Tapi - they have no deltas
The west flowing rivers do not form any delta because?
The west flowing rivers like Narmada, Tapi etc do not form any delta because:
- The slope of the Western Ghats is steep and that is the reason that these rivers have a rapid flow. Due to this, the rivers carry their silt into deep sea.
- There is very less silt deposition. At the same time, the Narmada and Tapti rivers flow via the rift valleys and while doing so the eroded material carried by them gets deposited in the fractures of the fault zones. Thus, they don’t form deltas.
- Moreover, the tides are also one reason that the rivers of western side don’t form deltas. The west flowing rivers form estuaries instead.
Examples of erosional features of Western Ghats?
The rivers of Western Ghats too form spectacular gorges and V-shaped valleys which are the result of the vertical erosional activities of peninsular rivers like Krishna, Ghataprabha, Tungabhadra, Periyar etc. Many waterfalls like Dudhsagar, Sivasamudram, Jog falls are the resultant erosional features of Western Ghats.
Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plains came into being ?
This flood-plain came into being about 64 million years ago when it originally was a geo-synclinal depression.
The depression reached maximum development during the third phase of the Himalayan mountain formation
The plain was the result of sediments brought and filled by Himalayan and Peninsular region
What are Geosynclines?
The ‘Geosynclines’ are major structural and sedimentational units of the earth’s crust.
They are elongated trough-like depressions submerged beneath the sea water.
These basins become filled with great thickness of sediments and along with the accumulation of pile of sediments; there occurs progressive subsidence of the basin floor resulting into plain formation at a much later geological stage.
Soil in the plains and their depths
These plains are mostly formed of alluvial deposits and therefore are extremely fertile and the depth of deposits vary between 1000-2000m
India - Physiography division
• India is divided into 6 physiographic divisions:
The Northern and the North Eastern Mountains The Northern Plains The Peninsular Plateau The Indian Desert The Coastal Plains The Islands
The Himalayan Mountain System is formed due to thee
They are formed by the tectonic collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate.
Length and width of The Himalayan Mountain System
The Himalayan Mountain System forms an arc over the Indian subcontinent, which covers a distance of about 2,400 Km in length with varying width from 400 Km in Kashmir to 160 Km in Arunachal Pradesh
How do The Himalayan Mountain System act as a barrier?
These mountains act as a physical barrier between Central and East Asian countries and India and protect the Indian subcontinent from the icy cold winds of Central Asia.
They act as climatic, drainage and cultural divide
The northern mountain system is divided into?
The northern mountain system is divided into three parts, called – The Himalayas, The trans-Himalayas and The Purvanchal Hills
Classification of Himalayas?
1- The longitudinal division of Himalayas ( based on north-south alignment)
2- West to east division of Himalayas based on region and height of the mountains.