Physiographic divisions of India
Topic: Structure and Physiography of India: Himalayas, Plains, Peninsula, Coasts and Islands · NCERT: Class 7, Ch 1 "Geographical Diversity of India"; Class 11, Ch 2 "Structure and Physiography"
Meaning
Physiography means the shape of the land. It comes from three things: the structure of the rocks, the processes that wear them down or build them up, and the stage of development. Grouped by relief, India has six physiographic divisions:
- the Northern and North-eastern Mountains
- the Northern Plain
- the Peninsular Plateau
- the Indian Desert
- the Coastal Plains
- the Islands
Broadly, the north has rugged young mountains and the south is a stable, cut-up tableland with steep edges. The vast plain lies between them. Class 7 uses five regions instead: mountains, plains, desert, southern peninsula and islands.
Example
The Indian (Thar) Desert lies north-west of the Aravallis in Rajasthan. It is a separate division because wind has shaped its dunes, rain is under 150 mm a year and its rivers run only after rain, even though the rock under it belongs to the Peninsula.
Don't confuse with
- Geological divisions of India: there are three of these (Peninsular Block, Himalayas and other Peninsular mountains, Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra plain), and they are based on rock structure, not relief.