Location and Geological Divisions of India

Location and Geological Divisions of India

The mainland of India extends from Jammu and Kashmir in the North to Kanyakumari in the South, Arunachal Pradesh in the East to Gujarat in the West.

Its territorial stretch extends 12 nautical miles i.e. 12.9 km toward the sea from the coast.

Location of India:

India is located in Northern Hemisphere, between

• 8° 4 ′N to 37 °6 ′N latitude and,
• 68 °7′ E and 97°25 ′ longitude
• The southern boundary of India extends up to 6°45′ N latitude in the bay of Bengal.
• The actual distance from North to South is 3,214 km and from East to West is 2,933 km.
• The tropic of cancer 23°30′ N latitude divides India into two climatic zones. The Northern part is in the sub-tropical zone and the southern part is in the tropical zone.
• India with its area of 3.28 million sq km accounts for 2.4% of the world’s land surface area and it stands as the seventh-largest country in the world.
• India has a land boundary of about 15,200 km, and the total length of the coastline including Andaman Nicobar and Lakshadweep is 7,516.6 km.
• India is bounded by the Himalayas in the North, Hindukush, and Sulaiman ranges in the Northwest, the Purvanchal hills in the Northeast, and the Indian Ocean in the South. Due to the presence of these physical features, India has a unique identity as the Indian Subcontinent.
• The Standard Meridian of India passes through 82°30′ E Longitude, Passing through Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh.

Neighbors of India:

• India has 28 states and 8 Union territories.
• It shares its land boundaries with Pakistan and Afghanistan in the Northwest, China, Nepal, and Bhutan in the North, and Myanmar and Bangladesh in the East.
• India shares a boundary with two island countries: Sri Lanka and the Maldives.
• Palk Strait and the Gulf of Mannar separate Sri Lanka from India.

Neighbor countries	Length
Bangladesh	4,096 km
Bhutan	578 km
China	3,488 km
Myanmar	1,643 km
Nepal	1,752 km
Pakistan	3,310 km
Sri Lanka	0.1 km

Geological Divisions of India

India is a country with variations in culture, climate, soil, living; flora, and fauna as well as it shows geological variations also. India can be divided into three geological divisions on the basis of geological structure:

• The Peninsular Block
• The Himalayan and other Peninsular Mountains
• Indo – Ganga – Brahmaputra Plain

The Peninsular Block

Formation: Indian Peninsular part is formed by ancient metamorphic rocks (Gneisses, granite) in the Cambrian period. Some part of the western coast of the peninsula has submerged under the sea and some parts changed due to tectonic activity, but its original basement is unchanged.

The formation of rift valleys of Narmada, Tapi, The Mahanadi, and Satpura block mountains was the result of the vertical movement and block faulting of the Peninsula, as a part of Indo – the Australian Plate.

Peninsular India also has residual mountains like the Aravalli hills, the Nallamala hills, the Javadi hills, the Veliconda hills, the Palkonda, and the Mahendragiri hills.

Extension: Its Northern boundary extends from Kachchh along the western flank of the Aravali range near Delhi and then parallel to Yamuna and Ganga as far as the Rajmahal hills and the Ganga delta.

The extension of the peninsular block is also in Karbi Anglong and the Meghalaya plateau in North East and in the west its extension is up to Rajasthan.

Most of the East flowing rivers like Mahanadi, Krishna, Kaveri, Godavari, form a delta in the peninsular region, before entering the Bay of Bengal.

The Himalayas and other peninsular Mountains

The origin of these mountains is tectonic movements. These are dissected by young rivers (Fast-flowing rivers in nature also called youth rivers).

This can be characterized by various landforms. Gorges, V-shaped valleys, rapids, etc. are more often in this division.

The Himalayan mountains are young, weak, and flexible, in their geographical structure in comparison to the Peninsular division.

These mountains are still affected by exogenic and endogenic forces, which result in the development of faults, folds, and thrust.

Indo-Ganga-Brahmaputra Plain

This division was formed by the river Indus, the Ganga, and the Brahmaputra. The maximum development of this block is about 64 million years ago with the third phase of the Himalayan Mountain formation.

The average depth of alluvial deposits in Indo – the Ganga – Brahmaputra plain ranges from 1000 to 2000 m.

 

You can also read:

• Landforms and their evolution
• List of main volcanos of the world
• The Rocks- Igneous Rocks 
• Sedimentary rocks
• Metamorphic rocks

Thank you 🙂