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Tag: The Great Plains of India

  • Importance of the Great Plains of India

    In this article, we will discuss Importance of the Great Plains of India. So, let’s get started.

    Importance of the Great Plains of India

    The Great Plains of India have been the repository of the Indian culture. This is covered with one of the most productive soils of the world. Its soils have the capacity to grow any crop of the tropical and temperate regions. The main points of significance of the Great Plains of India are as under:
    (i) The soils of the plains are agriculturally most fertile. They are being devoted to the cereal and non-cereal crops. The plains are often termed as the “Granary of India”.
    (ii) Most of the rivers traversing the Northern Plains of India are perennial in nature. A number
    of canals have been carved out of these rivers which make agriculture more remunerative and sustainable
    (iii) The northern plains have a rich underground water-table which is being utilised through
    tube-wells and pumping sets for irrigation, domestic and industrial purposes.
    (iv) The rivers of the plain have very gentle gradients which makes them navigable over long
    distances
    (v) Development of infrastructure like roads and railways could become easy in the plains.
    (vi) The sedimentary rocks of plains have petroleum and natural gas deposits.
    (vii) The plains constitute less than one-third of the total area of the country, but support over
    40% of the total population of the country.
    (viii) The plains have witnessed several religious, political, culturaland social movements since the dawn of history. Some of the great religions of the world, like Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism,
    and Sikhism have their origin in the Great Plains of India. Several sacred places and centres of pilgrimage (Amritsar, Hardwar, Allahabad, Varanasi, Kushinagar, Bodh-Gaya, etc)
    are situated in these plains.

    The Indian Desert
    A desert is an arid land where the water is lost through evaporation than is gained from precipitation. It is the region where the rate of evaporation is higher so that of the rate of precipitation.

    The Thar Desert
    It is a low latitude desert and is also known as tropical desert. The name Thar is derived from ‘thul’ a term used for the region’s sand ridges. The Thar Desert is a large arid region that covers an area of 200,000 sq km. It is the ninth largest subtropical desert in the world. It is bordered by plains of the Indus River to the west, Punjab plain to the north and north-east, Aravalli range to the south east and Rann of Kutch to the south. More than 60% of the desert lies in Rajasthan.
    The land surface of the Thar Desert is wind deposited (Aeolian) accumlation of sand over the past 1.8 million years. Its surface has high and low sand dunes separated by sandy plains and low barren hills (bhakars). The dunes are in continual motion and keep varying in their shapes and size. Some of the older sand dunes are of 150 m height. The region has playas (saline lake beds), locally known as dhands, scattered throughout the region. Examples: The Sambhar, Kuchaman, Didwana, Pachpadra, Phalodi (Rajasthan), Kharagoda (Gujarat), Lunkaransar are major sources of the common salt.
    The Thar Desert receives low annual rainfall of about 4 inches (in the west) to 20 inches (in the
    east). The winds are dry north east monsoon and the deserts record temperatures up to 50°C in the months of May and June. The coldest month is January with the minimum temperature of 5-10° C. The winters are short for two months only in December and January, Dust storms blow with velocities of up to 150 km/h during the peak summer season.
    The flora includes stunted scrub, drought resistant trees, gum Arabica, acacia, jojoba, Khejri
    tree and Euphorbia. Kejri is an indigenous tree which plays a vital role in stabilizing the sand
    dunes. It can also withstand periodic burial under the sand dunes. The fauna of the Thar Desert
    are the falcon, kestrel, blackbucks, chinkara, Indian wild ass, foxes, partridges, quail, vultures and reptiles. Endangered species of bustard is found in the desert.
    The river Luni, originating from the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli range is the only natural
    water source that reaches the Arabian Sea through the Rann of Kutch. The major irrigation system in the region is the Rajasthan Canal System. The Indira Gandhi Canal is the source of fresh water and irrigates the vast expanse of Indian portion of the Thar Desert. The Desert National Park is an important ecosystem. The Tal Chhapar Sanctuary is an important bird reserve area located in Churu district and also an abode of large population of blackbuck, fox, caracal and sandgrouse. The Sundha Mata Conservation reserve is located in Jalore district. The Keoladeo Ghana National Park (Desert National Park in Jaisalmer) has fossils of tree trunks and sea shells.
    The Thar Desert has a population density of 83 people per sq km and it is the most densely
    populated desert in the world. It has become the largest wool producing area in India. Animal
    husbandry has increased as the harsh climatic conditions and the land terrain not favouring
    farming. However, Kharif crops are the main agricultural production. Bajra is the main crop. The
    solar and wind energy of the region is being exploited to generate electricity.

    The Cold Desert of India ( Ladakh)
    Ladakh is the cold desert of India that lies in the Greater Himalaya, on the eastern side of Jammu and Kashmir. It is bounded by the Karakoram range in the North and by Zanskar mountains in the South. River Indus flows through Ladakh. The altitude varies from 3000 m in Kargil to more than 8000 m in Karakoram. Ladakh has very thin air and hence the sun’s heat intensity is strongly felt. During the summers the day temperature is just above 0°C and at night it is as low as -40°C. The region experiences low rainfall (10 cm) annually since it lies in the rain shadow area of the Himalaya mountains.
    Teh region has sparse vegetation (scanty patches of shrubs and grasses). Walnuts, apples, apricots are the main fruits of the summer season. The fauna of the region includes Yak, Wild goat and sheep, special kinds of dogs.

  • The Great Plains of India

    In this article, we will discuss The Great Plains of India. So, let’s get started.

    The Great Plains Of India

    The Great Plains of India lies to the south of the Shiwalik separated by the Himalayan Front
    Fault (HFF). It is a transitional zone between the Himalaya of the north and Peninsular India
    of the south. It is an aggradational plain formed by the alluvial deposits of the Indus, Ganga,
    Brahmaputra and their tributaries. The plain stretches for about 2400 km from west to east. It has varying width; 90–100 km in Assam, 160 km near Rajmahal (Jharkhand), 200 km in Bihar, 280 km near Allahabad and 500 km in Punjab. In general, the width of the plain increases from east to west.
    The Great Plains of India consist largely of alluvial deposits brought down by the rivers
    originating in the Himalayan and the Peninsular region. The exact depth of alluvium has not yet
    been fully determined. According to recent estimates, the average depth of alluvium in the
    southern side of the plain (north of Bundelkhand) varies between 1300 to 1400 m, while towards the Shiwaliks, the depth of alluvium increases. The maximum depth of over 8000 m has been reached near Ambala, Yamunanagar, and Jagadhri (Haryana).
    The Great Plains are remarkably homogeneous with little variation in relief features for hundreds of kilometers. The monotony of the physical landscape is broken at micro-level by the
    river bluffs, Bhurs, levees, dead-arms of river channels, the ravines and khols. Changing river
    courses in the areas of frequent floods is a unique geomorphic process in the plains. The frequent floods, although a cause of immense damage to life and property, lay down fresh layer of silts in the flood-plains every year, providing rich fertile soils.

    Origin of the Great Plains of India
    There is no unanimity amongst the geologists about the origin of the Great Plains of India. The puzzling questions are related to the enormous thickness of the alluvium, nature of the depression, mode of its formation, subterranean rock-beds and the underlying geological structure, Some of the important views about the origin of the Nirthern Plains of India have been presented briefly in the following section:

    Alluviation of the Foredeep
    According to Edward Suess, an eminent Austrian geologist, a “foredeep” was formed in front of the high crust-waves of the Himalayaas they were checked in their southward advance by the more rigid landmass of the Peninsula of India. This foredeep was like a large synclinorium (a large syncline with a number of small anticlines and synclines) owing to the unevenness of its bottom. According to Suess, the bed of this foredeep had a gentle slope towards north whereas the Peninsular side depicted a steep gradient. This bed rests on the basement of hard crystalline Peninsular rocks through which the region is connected to the Himalayan and the Peninsular blocks. The alluviation of this foredeep led to the formation of the Great Plains by the rivers, descending from the Himalayan region. One of the serious gaps in Suess’ theoryis related to his inability to give suitable explanation to the uneven slope of the bed of the plain. Moreover, no conclusive evidence is available through which it could be inferred that there exists crustal connection between the Himalayan region and the Peninsular block through the Great Plains.

    Infilling of a Rift Valley
    In the opinion of Sir G. Burrard, the Northern Plains of India are the result of infilling of a rift valley. Burrard opined that during the formation of the Himalaya a nft valley was created between the two parallel faults (one along the southem boundary of the Shiwaliks and the other along the northern boundary of the Peninsula) This rift valley was filled up by the detritus brought down by the Himalayan river. In order to support his argument Burrard has cited examples of the formation of similar rift valleys in the Himalaya and the Peninsular region especially the Narmada and Tapi rift valleys.
    This concept, however, does not find approval of the modern geologists. The main criticism
    raised against this concept is that nowhere in the world has such a giant rift valley with a length
    of 2400 km and a width of over 500 km ever been formed by crustal downwarping. Also there is no geological evidence of the formation of such a rift valley in the northern part of the Peninsular foreland. The uneven bottom and the northward slope of the bottom of the Great Plains of India have also not been explained by this concept.

    Recession of the Sea
    In the opinion of Blandford, during the Eocene Period. Peninsular India was joined together with
    Africa. During that period, there was one sea extending from Assam Valley to the Irrawaddy river (Myanmar) in the east and another from Iran and Baluchistan to Ladakh (Indus Valley) in the west. During the last part of the Eocene Period, arms of the Western Sea extended up to Punjab. Due to the rise of the Himalaya during the Miocene Period, these seas started receding by gradual deposits of sediments from the Himalayan rivers. After a prolonged period of sedimentation and subsidence, these gulfs (Gulf of Sind in the west and the Eastern Gulf up to the Shillong Plateau) were filled up, resulting in the formation of the Northern Plains of India.
    The evidences cited in favour of the recession of the sea include: (i) the occurrence of limestone rocks in Kumaun-Garhwal region of Uttarakhand, (ii) the presence of saline water lakes in Rajasthan (Sambar, Rajsazmand. Pushkar, Pachpadra. Nakki, Fatehsagar Dheberr, Balasmand, etc.),(iii) the joining of the islands of the Gulf of Kachchh with the mainland, (iv) the seaward extension of the Sundarban Delta, (v) the emergence of new islands near Bangladesh coast, and (vi) the presence of marine fossils in the sediments of the Northern Plains of India. The theory, however, fails to give convincing arguments so far as the region of the central portion of the plain is concerned.

    Remnant of the Tethys
    Some of the geologists and geomorphologists opine that the Great Plains of India are a remnant of the Tethys Sea. According to them, after the upheaval of the Shiwaliks, the remaining part of the Tethys was left as a large trough which was joined to the Bay of Bengal in the east and the
    Arabian Sea in the west. Rivers from the Himalaya deposited their load in the trough. Because the Himalaya were rising during that period, rivers experienced rejuvenation and greater quantity of eroded material which increased the thickness of the alluviums. Due to infilling of the central part of the trough the seas located in the east and the west started receding, and the Great Plains of India come into existence.

    Recent Views
    According to the recent views, the Northern Plains of India represent a sag in the crust formed between the northward drifting of the Indian Subcontinent and the comparatively soft sediments accumulated in the Tethyan basin when the latter were crumpled and lifted up into a mountain system. Subsequently, it was filled up by the river deposits.