India can be divided into four regions: the Himalayas, northern river valleys, Deccan plateau, Eastern and Western Ghats. The Himalayas are a mountain system ranging from 160 to 320 km wide, stretching for 2400 km along its northern and eastern borders. The Himalayas are the highest mountain system in the world. Among the highest mountain peaks, wholly or partly located in India, are Kanchenjunga (8598 m), the third peak in the world after Everest and K2 (Godwin-Austen); Nanga Parbat (8126 m); Nanda Devi (7817 m); Rakaposhi (7788 m); Kamet (7756 m). To the south, parallel to the Himalayas, lies the region of the northern river valleys - a flat strip with a width of 280 to 400 km. The region occupies most of the plains area through which the Indus, Ganges and Brahmaputra flow.
Inland waters
The central and western parts of India receive water from the Ganges, sacred to all Hindus, and its tributaries called the Ganges Valley. The Assam region receives water from the Brahmaputra, which originates in the northern Himalayas and flows into Bangladesh. The Indus originates in Tibet and flows west through Jammu and Kashmir into Pakistan.
Due to the abundance of water and fertile lands, the region of the northern river valleys is the most populated region of the country and it is where Indian civilization began. To the south of this region lies the vast triangular-shaped Deccan plateau, which occupies almost the entire Indian peninsula. The height of the plateau is from 300 to 900 m, however, sometimes there are chains up to 1200 m high. In many places it is crossed by rivers. In the east and west, the plateau is framed by mountain ranges: the Eastern Ghats and the Western Ghats. The Western Ghats rise to a height of up to 900 m. Between them and the Arabian Sea lies the narrow plain of the Malabar coast. The Eastern Ghats rise to a height of about 460 m. Between them and the Bay of Bengal lies a narrow, flat strip of the Coromandel coast.
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The richness of Indian nature lies in its diversity. 3/4 of the country's territory is occupied by plains and plateaus. India resembles a huge triangle with its apex pointing at. Along the base of the Indian triangle stretch the mountain systems of the Karakoram, Gindukusha and the Himalayas.
South of the Himalayas lies the vast, fertile Indo-Gangetic Plain. To the west of the Indo-Gangetic Plain stretches the barren Thar Desert.
Further south is the Deccan Plateau, which occupies most of the central and southern part. The plateau is bordered on both sides by the mountains of the Eastern and Western Ghats; their foothills are occupied by tropical forests.
The climate of India over most of its territory is subequatorial, monsoon. In the north and northwest it is tropical, with precipitation of about 100 mm/year. On the windward slopes of the Himalayas, 5000-6000 mm of precipitation falls per year, and in the center of the peninsula - 300-500 mm. In summer, up to 80% of all precipitation falls.
The largest rivers of India - the Ganges, Indus, Brahmaputra - originate in the mountains and are fed by snow, glaciers and rain. The rivers of the Deccan Plateau are fed by rain. During the winter monsoon, the rivers of the plateau dry up.
In the north of the country, brown-red and red-brown savannah soils predominate, in the center - black and gray tropical and red earth laterint soils. In the south there are yellow earth and red earth soils, which developed on lava covers. The coastal lowlands and river valleys are covered with rich alluvial soils.
The natural vegetation of India has been greatly modified by man. Monsoon forests have survived only 10-15% of the original area. Every year, the forest area in India is reduced by 1.5 million hectares. Acacias and palm trees grow in savannas. In subtropical forests - sandalwood, teak, bamboo, coconut palms. Altitudinal zones are clearly defined in the mountains.
India has a rich and diverse fauna: deer, antelope, elephants, tigers, Himalayan bears, rhinoceroses, panthers, monkeys, wild boars, many snakes, birds, fish.
India's recreational resources are of global importance: coastal, historical, cultural, architectural, etc.
India has significant reserves. Manganese deposits are concentrated in central and eastern India. The subsoil of India is rich in chromites, uranium, thorium, copper, bauxite, gold, magnesite, mica, diamonds, precious and semi-precious stones.
Coal reserves in the country amount to 120 billion tons (Bihar and West Bengal). India's oil and gas are concentrated in the Asamu Valley and the Gujarat plains, as well as on the Arabian Sea shelf near Bombay.
Adverse natural phenomena in India are droughts, earthquakes, floods (8 million hectares), fires, melting of snow in the mountains, soil erosion (the country loses 6 billion tons), desertification in western India, and deforestation.
Mineral resources are one of the main components of the economic development of the state. With a variety of mineral resources, the country will not depend on external partners. At the same time, the emphasis will be on the development of areas in which the territory is rich. How it's done in India.
Features of the tectonic structure
India is divided into three parts. The main territories of the country are located on the surface of the Hindustan Plate. This part of the state is the most stable. In the northeast of modern India, the highest mountain range on the planet begins - the Himalayas, which was formed as a result of the collision of two plates - the Hindustan and Eurasian, with their subsequent unification into one continent. The same collision contributed to the formation of a depression in the earth's crust, which was later filled with alluvium and gave rise to the third part - the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The relief features of India and mineral resources are closely interconnected. The modern incarnation of the ancient plate is the Deccan Plateau, which occupies almost the entire central and southern part of the country. It is rich in deposits of various ore minerals, diamonds and other precious stones, as well as deposits containing coals and hydrocarbons.
Brief description of reserves
One can highlight some peculiarities of the state of India. Mineral resources containing ore: iron, copper, manganese, tungsten, as well as bauxite, chromite and gold, are located in the east and northeast of the country. In places of contact with mountain ranges. Here, as well as on the more eastern plateau of Chhota Nagpur, the largest coal basins are concentrated. The raw materials of these deposits are not of high quality - they are mainly thermal coals and they are used as much as possible in the energy sector. Southern India is rich in deposits of bauxite, gold, and chromite. Iron ore deposits are located in the central part of the country. Unlike coal mining, which is aimed mainly at the domestic market, mining of ore minerals is export-oriented. The coastal strip of the Indian coast has reserves of monazite sand, which contains thorium and And the question of what minerals India is rich in can be answered - all. And the presence of large deposits of precious metals - gold and silver - allowed India, literally, to become the main source of jewelry in the world.
Ore minerals
The western lowlands of the country and the mountainous northern lands of the state of India are practically devoid of ore mineral resources. The topography and minerals in this country are interconnected. Therefore, almost all ore deposits are associated with the Deccan Plateau. Its northeast is rich in huge deposits of various resources - iron, chromium, and manganese are mined here. Iron ore reserves are estimated at twelve billion tons. And ore is mined on such a scale that the local metallurgy does not have time to process it.
Therefore, most of the mined ore is exported. Indian and chromites are famous for their high content of useful substances. And the countries are rich in zinc, lead and copper. Separately, special fossils should be highlighted - monazite sands. They are found on many of the world's coasts, but India has the largest concentration of them. Minerals of this type have a large component of radioactive ores - thorium and uranium. The country took advantage of the presence of this component on its territory, which allowed it to become a nuclear power. In addition to radioactive substances, monazite sands contain sufficient amounts of titanium and zirconium.
Non-metallic minerals
The main mineral of this type is coal, which accounts for ninety-seven percent of Indian coal reserves. Most of the deposits are located in the east and northeast of the Deccan plateau and the Chhota Nagpur plateau. Proven coal reserves are the seventh largest in the world. But the extraction of this mineral accounts for seven percent of the global value - the highest figure among other countries.
Coal is used mainly as fuel for thermal power plants. Only a small amount is used in metallurgy. Production in the country is insignificant. This fossil is used only as fuel. The northeastern lands are also rich in oil reserves. Until the middle of the last century, these were the only oil deposits that India knew. Since that period, minerals of this type began to be explored throughout the country and large deposits were found in the west of the country and on the shelves of the Arabian Sea. The country produces more than forty million tons of oil annually, but this is not enough for the rapidly developing Indian industry, so the country has to import a significant part of the oil.
Jewelry leader
What else is India famous for? Mineral resources that are of significant importance in the life of the country are listed above. Almost all - only precious metals and precious stones were not mentioned.
For several millennia, all the world's diamonds were mined in India near Golconda, in the eastern part of the Deccan Plateau. By the eighteenth century, it turned out that these deposits were practically empty. At the same time, large deposits were discovered in Africa, Canada, Siberia, and Indian diamonds began to be forgotten. Relatively small diamond mining by world standards and the presence of platinum and gold components in the ore deposits of the east and northeast of the country have made India a world leader in jewelry.
In South Asia, mostly on the Hindustan Peninsula. The coast of India is washed by the waters of the Indian Ocean - the Bay of Bengal from the southeast and the Arabian from the southwest. Territory area - 3287259 km 2.
Climate. India's climate is strongly influenced by the Himalayas and the Thar Desert, causing the monsoons. The Himalayas serve as a barrier to the cold Central Asian winds, thus making the climate in most of Hindustan warmer than at the same latitudes in other regions of the planet. The Thar Desert plays a key role in attracting the humid southwesterly winds of the summer monsoon, which provide rain to much of India between June and October. India is dominated by 4 main climates: tropical humid, tropical dry, subtropical monsoon and alpine. In most of India, there are 3 seasons: hot and humid with the dominance of the southwest monsoon (June-October); relatively cool and dry with a predominance of northeast trade winds (November-February); very hot and dry transitional (March-May). During the wet season, over 80% of the annual precipitation falls. The windward slopes of the Western Ghats and Himalayas are the most humid (up to 6000 mm/year); on the slopes of the Shillong plateau is the rainiest place on Earth - Cherrapunji (about 12000 mm). The driest areas are the western part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain (less than 100 mm in the Thar Desert, dry period 9-10 months) and the central part of Hindustan (300-500 mm, dry period 8-9 months). The amount of precipitation varies greatly from year to year. On the plains, the average January temperature increases from north to south from +15 to +27°C, in May everywhere +28...+35°C, sometimes reaching +45...+48°C. During the wet period in most of the country the temperature is +28°C. In the mountains at an altitude of 1500 m in January -1°C, in July +23°C, at an altitude of 3500 m -8°C and +18°C, respectively.
Relief. There are 7 natural regions in India: the Northern Mountain Range (consisting of the Himalayas and the Karakoram), the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Great Indian Desert, the Southern Plateau (Deccan Plateau), the East Coast, the West Coast and the Adaman, Nicobar and Lakshadweep Islands. There are 7 major mountain ranges in India: the Himalayas, Patkai (Eastern Highlands), Aravali, Vindhya, Satpura, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats. The Himalayas stretch from east to west (from the Brahmaputra River to the Indus River) for 2500 km with a width of 150 to 400 km. The Himalayas consist of three main mountain ranges: the Siwalik Mountains in the south (altitudes 800-1200 m), then the Lesser Himalayas (2500-3000 m) and the Greater Himalayas (5500-6000 m).Hydrography. Underwater ≈ 9.5% of the area. The Himalayas are the source of three of India's largest rivers: the Ganges (2,510 km), the Indus (2,879 km) and the Brahmaputra, which flow into the Bay of Bengal. Several rivers flow into the Gulf of Cambay (Tapti, Narbad, Mahi and Sabarmati). During the summer monsoon season, accompanied by the melting of snow in the Himalayas, flooding has become a common occurrence in North India. Once every 5-10 years, almost the entire Jamno-Gangetic plain is under water. There are no significant lakes in India. Most often, oxbow lakes are found in the valleys of large rivers; there are also glacial-tectonic lakes in the Himalayas. The largest lake is Sambhar, located in arid Rajasthan.
Aquatic biological resources.
Vegetation. Tropical evergreen forests, monsoon (deciduous) forests, savannas, woodlands and shrubs, semi-deserts and deserts. In the Himalayas, the vertical zonation of vegetation cover is clearly visible - from tropical and subtropical forests to alpine meadows. Forests occupy ≈ 21.6% of the territory.
Soils. Among the diversity of soils in India, 4 main types can be distinguished. Where it is humid and warm all year round, red soils predominate in areas of deciduous forests; they are found on soils of different mineralogical composition; their distribution depends largely on climate. The thickness of red soils is 0.5-1.5 m, but there are areas where the thickness of loose red soil rock exceeds 10 m. Indian red soils are poor in humus and phosphates. In tropical areas with sharp changes in dry and wet seasons, laterites are common, also found on a wide variety of rocks containing iron and aluminum silicates. Laterites are typical for flat areas and gentle slopes of watersheds. In terms of fertility, they are significantly inferior to red soils. In the central and northwestern parts of the Deccan, in a climate of dry savannas, black clay soils, or regars, formed on the weathering crust of basalts. During the dry season, regars retain the moisture of monsoon rains for a long time, which is favorable for the harvest of unirrigated cotton, which requires dry hot air and moist soil. Almost the entire Gangetic lowland, lowland Assam, as well as the coastal lowlands and river valleys of the Deccan are occupied by alluvial soils, constituting about half of all cultivated soils.Agriculture. Farmland occupies ≈ 54.7% of the territory, and arable land makes up ≈ 87% of its structure. In the southeastern part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain is the main rice-growing zone of India, where rice is cultivated during the kharif season (May-September) under monsoon rains, and artificial irrigation is used during the rabi season (October-April). Wheat is cultivated in the northwestern part of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It is grown under artificial irrigation. On the terraced slopes of the Assam Mountains, on red soils, plantations of tea bushes have been created, which grow best in a moderately warm climate, on well-drained soil.
Animal husbandry and crafts. They raise buffaloes, cows (dairy cattle), pigs, sheep, camels, poultry, and goats. Fishing.
Plant growing. They grow wheat, barley, rice, millet, corn, peanuts, sugar beets, sugar cane, soybeans, rapeseed, sunflower, cotton, hevea, tobacco, coffee, tea, jute, castor oil, potatoes, sesame, garlic, red pepper, cauliflower , okra, eggplant, cabbage, bananas, oranges, mangoes, coconut palms, cashews, guava, lychees, pineapples, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, grapes.
Regions of India
State of Andhra Pradesh.
Located along the southeastern coast of the country. Occupies the eastern part of the Deccan plateau and the plains east of the Eastern Ghats. The climate varies greatly by region, with monsoons affecting the entire state. Temperatures in the eastern Plains tend to be slightly warmer than other areas. The west and southwest of the state have a drier climate. The Eastern Ghats cross Andhra Pradesh from north to south and are divided into 2 parts. The coastal plains are a major agricultural region. The main rivers are Godavari, Krishna, Pennar and Tungabhadra. Rivers are actively used for irrigation. Rice, sugar cane, cotton, red pepper, tobacco, and mango are grown.
State of Arunachal Pradesh.
Located in northeast India.
State of Assam.
Located in eastern India. The climate is tropical monsoon and the area receives heavy seasonal rainfall. They grow jute and tea.
State of Bihar.
Located in eastern India. The climate is tropical monsoon, from June to September is the monsoon season. It is a huge fertile plain. In a small area in the far north of the state, the foothills of the Himalayas begin. There are low hills in the central part of the state. They grow rice, cauliflower, okra, eggplant, cabbage, mango, guava, lychee, and pineapples.
State of Kerala.
Located on the Malabar Coast in southwest India. The climate is humid tropical, oceanic, highly dependent on the seasonal monsoons. The average annual rainfall is 3107 mm, ranging from 1250 mm in some lowland regions to 5000 mm in the eastern district of Idukki. Three main geographic regions can be distinguished: the highlands of the eastern interior, the rolling hills of the central regions, and the flat coastal plain in the west. The plains are almost entirely occupied by agricultural land. Fishing. They grow coffee, tea, hevea, coconut palms, cashews, and bananas.
State of Uttar Pradesh.
Located in northern India. The climate is tropical monsoon, varying greatly in different areas due to large variations in altitude. There are 3 seasons: winter (from October to February), summer (from March to mid-June) and the rainy season (monsoon) (from June to September). The Himalayas receive heavy rainfall: 1000-2000 mm in the eastern regions, 600-1000 mm in the west of the state. The state is located mainly within the Indo-Gangetic plain, in the fertile Ganges and Jamna valley. The territory can be divided into 3 main geographical regions: the Himalayas (in the north), whose altitude here ranges from 300 to 5000 m; Gangetic Plain (center), a flat area characterized by fertile alluvial soils, many rivers and lakes; the third region is the Vidhya hills and plateaus occupying the southern part of the state. They grow wheat, rice, legumes, sugarcane, tea, potatoes, and mangoes.
1. What are the topography features of India? Its climate?
Most of the territory is vast plains. Erosion mountains, the Western and Eastern Ghats, formed on the western and eastern coasts. In the north, the country is bordered by the Himalayas. The relief and geographical location determine the climate. In India, a subequatorial climate is formed with a pronounced manifestation of the monsoon circulation. There are hot summers and warm winters. Summer is the rainy season. Due to the configuration and topography, precipitation falls unevenly - maximum precipitation occurs in the north-west of the country and the coast.
2. What is the reason for the country’s wealth in mineral resources?
With the close location of crystalline basement rocks and magmatism in the area where Hindustan connects with Eurasia.
3. *How does vegetation change on the slopes of the Himalayas? On what part of the slope is it particularly diverse? Why?
The northern and southern slopes of the Himalayas are very different. The northern slope is in a dry, sharply continental climate. The vegetation here is poor: the foot and slopes are covered with desert and semi-desert vegetation. They are replaced by high mountain deserts and eternal snow. The southern slopes of the Himalayas receive large amounts of rainfall. Variably moist forests form here at the foot. They are replaced by jungles, deciduous forests, coniferous forests, alpine meadows, and only then high mountain deserts follow.
4. *Why is India considered an agrarian-industrial country?
India is considered an agrarian-industrial country, since agriculture has retained the natural and semi-natural way of life and employs more than 60% of the country's population.
5. What are the features of the sectoral structure of industry and specialization of agriculture in India?
Mechanical engineering occupies a leading place in industry. Modern production is developing rapidly. Ferrous and non-ferrous (aluminum) metallurgy using its own raw materials has been developed. The chemical industry focuses on basic chemistry. Traditionally, food and light industries have developed.
Agriculture is dominated by crop production. The main crops are rice, corn, cotton, tea bush, sugar cane, oilseeds. From livestock farming, poultry farming and sheep farming developed.
How do you think?
India is one of the world centers of civilization. The history of its traditions, beliefs, customs is thousands of years old. Why does it remain original until this time? Why has the demographic policy being pursued in the country not achieved its goals of reducing the birth rate?
India is truly one of the cradles of civilization. This backwardness of the country's economy is explained by its long colonial dependence. During the colonial period, no important industries were developed in the country. The metropolitan countries used India as a market for their own goods, and they had no need for the development of its economy. As for the failures of demographic policy, they are explained, on the one hand, by the strength of the tradition of large families. On the other hand, demographic policy in India, unlike China, was only propaganda in nature and was not successful among the population.