Physical Features of India Test - 36

The Northern Plain was formed by the deposits brought in by the three major rivers and their tributaries.

1. The Indus 

2. The Ganga 

3. The Brahmaputra  

Alluvium was deposited at the foothills of the Himalayas for millions of years. These deposits are now the fertile Northern Plains.

• The Pir Panjal range in Kashmir is the longest and the most important range in the Middle Himalaya.
• It extends from the Jhelum river to the upper Beas river for over 300 km.
• It rises to 5,000 metres and contains mostly volcanic rocks.

• Atoll which is also called as coral atoll is a ring shaped reef including rim which is present around a lagoon. These can be either circular or horse shoe shaped.
  
• Most of the world’s atolls are located in Pacific Ocean. The Saya de Malha Bank is the largest atoll that is present in western Indian Ocean.
  

Shipkila: It is located in Kinnaur district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, and Ngari Prefecture in Tibet, China. The pass is one of India's border posts for trade with Tibet along with Nathu La in Sikkim, and Lipulekh in Uttarakhand. The pass is close to the town of Khab.

Bhor Ghat or Bor Ghat, Bhore Ghaut, is a mountain passage located between Palasdari and Khandala for railway and between Khopoli and Khandala on the road route in Maharashtra, India, situated on the crest of the Western Ghats.

Bomdila is the headquarters of West Kameng district in the state of Arunachal Pradesh in India.

Nathula pass: It is a mountain pass in the Himalayas in East Sikkim district. It connects the Indian state of Sikkim with China's Tibet Autonomous Region.

• Gujarat has the longest mainland coastline in India.
• The total length of India's coastline is 7516.6 kilometers. 
• The Arabian Sea gives the state of Gujarat its extensive coastline.
• Andhra Pradesh has the second longest mainland coastline with a total length of 974 kilometers.

Godavari is the second longest river in India after the river Ganges. It has its source at Trimbakeshwar, Maharashtra. It starts in Maharashtra and flows east for 1,465 kilometres (910 mi) emptying into Bay of Bengal draining the Indian states Maharashtra (48.6%), Telangana (18.8%), Andhra Pradesh (4.5%), Chhattisgarh (10.9%), Madhya Pradesh (10.0%), Odisha (5.7%) and Karnataka (1.4%) through its extensive network of tributaries. Measuring up to 312,812 km2 (120,777 sq mi), it forms one of the largest river basins in the Indian subcontinent. In terms of length, catchment area and discharge, the Godavari River is the largest in peninsular India and had been dubbed as the 'Dakshina Ganga'.

• Northern Plains area is roughly 7 lakh sq. km. in size. 
  
• It is 2400 km long and 240 to 320 km broad.
  
• The Northern Plains spreading from Assam to Punjab has a length of around 2400 km and the width ranges between 150 km to 300 km, varying in different regions. It can be found in Bihar, Punjab, Assam, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, parts of Delhi and Haryana. 

The Western Coastal Plains is a thin strip of coastal plain 50 kilometers in width between the west coast of India and the Western Ghats hills, which starts near the south of river Tapi. They are bodied between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. The plains begin at Gujarat in the north and end at Kerala in the south. It also includes the states of Maharashtra, Goa and Karnataka. It consists of three sections. The Northern part of the coast is called the Konkan (Mumbai-Goa) whereas the central stretch is called the Kanara, while the southern stretch is referred to as the Malabar Coast.