Key facts

  • The Census of India's 1991 Regional Divisions of India used physiography, geological structure, forest coverage, climatic conditions and soils for reg...
  • India's six macro physiographic units are the Northern and North-eastern Mountains, Northern Plain, Peninsular Plateau, Indian Desert, Coastal Plains...
  • The Indian Himalayan Region stretches for about 2,500 km, and its main belts are Himadri, Himachal and Shiwalik from inner to outer zones.
  • Bhabar, Terai, Bhangar and Khadar form a foothill-to-floodplain alluvial sequence from coarse gravel to active newer floodplain deposits.
  • The Peninsular Plateau includes the Central Highlands and the Deccan Plateau, with old rocks, black-soil tracts and the Narmada-Tapi rift-valley drain...

Key Points at a Glance

  1. 1

    The Census of India's 1991 Regional Divisions of India used physiography, geological structure, forest coverage, climatic conditions and soils for regional delineation.

  2. 2

    India's six macro physiographic units are the Northern and North-eastern Mountains, Northern Plain, Peninsular Plateau, Indian Desert, Coastal Plains and Islands.

  3. 3

    The Indian Himalayan Region stretches for about 2,500 km, and its main belts are Himadri, Himachal and Shiwalik from inner to outer zones.

  4. 4

    Bhabar, Terai, Bhangar and Khadar form a foothill-to-floodplain alluvial sequence from coarse gravel to active newer floodplain deposits.

  5. 5

    The Peninsular Plateau includes the Central Highlands and the Deccan Plateau, with old rocks, black-soil tracts and the Narmada-Tapi rift-valley drainage.

  6. 6

    The Western Ghats or Sahyadri escarpment is higher and more continuous than the discontinuous Eastern Ghats, so it has a stronger rainfall and watershed role.

  7. 7

    The Thar Desert of western Rajasthan is India's hot arid landform case, marked by dunes, sparse vegetation, Luni drainage and inland saline basins.

  8. 8

    Andaman-Nicobar is linked with submarine mountains and volcanic elements, while Lakshadweep is built of coral deposits.

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Macro Physiographic Frame

India's physical geography is best learnt through major relief units, because each unit controls climate, drainage, soil, vegetation and settlement in a different way. The broad national frame has six units: Northern and North-eastern Mountains, Northern Plain, Peninsular Plateau, Indian Desert, Coastal Plains and Islands. The mountain unit is young and tectonically active, the peninsular block is older and more stable, and the Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra plain is a deep alluvial trough filled by river sediments.

For an objective paper, the main task is to match each unit with its key physical character. Mountains provide high relief and feed snow-fed and rain-fed drainage. Plains store new and old alluvium. Plateaus expose resistant rocks, minerals and old drainage divides. Deserts show wind work, saline basins and water deficit. Coasts show marine submergence or emergence. Islands record submarine, volcanic or coral origins. Rajasthan gives a direct example through the Aravalli old fold mountain system, the Thar Desert and Luni inland drainage in one state.

Exam takeaway: learn the six units as relief-drainage-climate links, not as an isolated list of names.

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