The Himalayas, One of the Physical Features of India

The physical features of India can be studied under three main divisions:
1. The Mountaninos chain to the north, called the Himalayas
2. The vast riverine plain called the Northern Plain
3. The triangular mass of land to the south, called the Peninsular Plateau

Now, lets talk about The Himalayas
Beginning from the famir Plateau to the northwest of Kashmir and streching right up to the eastern corner of Arunachal Pradesh, stands the Himalaya, a formidable barrier. At the eastern end, the Himalayas take a sharp, hairpin bend, along the eastern border or  our country, called Purchaval. Similarly at the western end, a section of these mighty mountains bends along the western border of Pakistan and Bangladesh from the rest of the Asian continent, giving it the idenity  of a subcontinent within a continent. Before 1947, it was popularly called the Indian subcontinent.

The Himalayas are about 2400 Kilometres long, and run through Jammu and Kashmir and Uttar Pradesh in the west to Sikkim, Assam , West bengal and Arunachal Pradesh in the east. Nepal and Bhutan the two independent Himalayan Kingdoms, occupy the middle position. The Himalayas vary in width from 240 to 320 Kilometres. The average height of the Himalayas is 5230 metres above sea-level although about forty of its peaks, are higher than 7340 metres above sea-level.

You already know that the Himalayas are young fold mountains and they are the latest edition of the mountains systems of the world. You may find it very interesting to know how they were formed. Geologist believe that the rocks that now form the Himalayas were once lying at the bottom of a shallow sea, in the form of horizontal strata of sedimentary rocks.

These layers or strata got sandwiched by the horizontal movements from the south , when peninsular India moved towards the Eurasian continent in the north. Due to this compression, the strata gradually rose above the sea-level. In course of time, the entire structure formed lofty mountains of gigantic folds, each one higher than the other, and running paralled to each other.

The lowest mountain range along the northern border of the Northern Plan is the Siwalik range or the Outer Himalayas. Its average height is less than 1250 metres above sea-level. It is not a continous range and southwards merges with its marshy foothills called the Terai in the east. The next range that is higher than the Siwaliks is the Middle or Lesser Himalayan range or Himachal. The average height of this range is about 4500 metres above sea-level. On the slopes of this range are located the beautiful hill stations like Pahalgam, Gulmarg, Shimla, Mussoorie, Almora and Darjeeling. Still higher than the Hima-chal and forming the northernmost boundary range is the great Himalayan range, also known as the Himadri. This is the mighty , wall-like range of the Himalayas. its average height is about 6000 metres above sea-level.Here lie many of the world's highest peak. Mount Everest, 8848 metres, the world highest peak's. is located in this range. Study the names and location of some more mountain ranges like the Ladakh, Zanskar and Karakoram. Mt K2 or God -win Austin , the world's secomd highest peaks, is located in the Karakoram range.
The western Himalayas also include the beautiful valley of Kashmir , drained by the Jhelum River. The Purvachal Himalayas include the Patkai Bum and Naga hills in the north, the Garo, Khasi and Jaintia in the central region and the Lushai hills in the south.

Source:The Earth and People Its People, S Jeet & L Sachdev a Geoghrapy Textsbook for class VIII


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