Physical Divisions of India: Reading a Relief Map
The question in plain words: Why is India green in one part of a relief map, yellow in another and brown or white in the north, and what do those colours tell us about the land?
What you will be able to do: name India's six physical divisions, place each one on a map, and give two features of each.
1. A real-life story: one train journey, six kinds of land
Aman's family goes on a long holiday by train and bus.
- In Shimla the road climbs and curves; snow peaks shine far to the north.
- Coming down to Lucknow, the land is flat for hundreds of kilometres, full of wheat and sugarcane fields.
- In Jaisalmer they ride a camel over sand dunes.
- Around Hyderabad the ground is rocky and rises and falls gently, with big boulders on the hills.
- In Chennai they walk on a wide sandy beach.
- Last, they fly to Port Blair in the Andaman Islands, surrounded by sea and thick forest.
Aman crossed all six physical divisions of India in one trip. Let us find them on the map.
2. Step 1: how to read a relief map
A relief map shows height above sea level with colours. NCERT's map rule is simple: green for plains, yellow for plateaus, brown for mountains, blue for water. Our map uses the same idea: the darker the brown, the higher the land; white is the highest snow-covered land above 4,000 m.
Find these six on the map:
The six physical divisions
- Himalayan Mountains
- north, along the border brown and white on the map
- Northern Plains
- south of the Himalaya dark green, flat
- Peninsular Plateau
- south of the plains yellow and light brown
- Indian Desert
- west of the Aravali sandy, little rain
- Coastal Plains
- along both seas narrow green strips
- Islands
- Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar in the two seas
Order on the map from north to south: mountains, plains, plateau, coasts.
3. Step 2: the Himalaya, young fold mountains
The Himalaya run west to east from the Indus to the Brahmaputra. They are young fold mountains: the rock layers were pushed up and folded. They have three parallel ranges, from north to south:
- Great Himalaya (Himadri): the highest and most continuous range, average height about 6,000 m, with the tallest peaks. Its cores are of granite and it is always snow-covered. Kanchenjunga (8,598 m) stands on the Sikkim–Nepal border.
- Lesser Himalaya (Himachal): height mostly 3,700 to 4,500 m. It has the Pir Panjal, Dhaula Dhar and Mahabharat ranges and well-known hill stations.
- Shiwaliks: the outermost and lowest range, 900 to 1,100 m, made of loose sediments brought down by rivers.
Wide valleys between the Himachal and the Shiwaliks are called duns, for example Dehra Dun.
4. Step 3: the Northern Plains, gift of the rivers
- Formed by the Indus, Ganga and Brahmaputra and their tributaries, which spread fine soil called alluvium.
- About 7 lakh square km in area, about 2,400 km long and 240 to 320 km wide.
- Rich soil, water and a flat surface make it the most farmed and most crowded part of India.
- It has three parts: the Punjab Plains (west), the Ganga Plain (middle) and the Brahmaputra Plain (east, in Assam).
5. Step 4: the Peninsular Plateau, the oldest land
A plateau is high land with a fairly flat top. The Peninsular Plateau is made of very old hard rocks (igneous and metamorphic) and is the oldest landmass of India. The Narmada divides it into two parts:
- Central Highlands, north of the Narmada: the Malwa plateau, with the Vindhya range in the south and the Aravali in the north-west. Its eastward extensions are Bundelkhand, Baghelkhand and the Chotanagpur plateau.
- Deccan Plateau, south of the Narmada: a triangle, with the Satpura range in the north. It slopes gently towards the east.
Its two edges are the Ghats:
- Western Ghats: higher (900 to 1,600 m) and continuous. Anai Mudi (2,695 m) is the highest peak of the peninsula.
- Eastern Ghats: lower and broken into pieces by rivers flowing to the Bay of Bengal. Mahendragiri (1,501 m) is the highest peak.
The Meghalaya plateau in the north-east is a part of the same old plateau.
The black soil of the Deccan Trap comes from old volcanic lava. It is very good for cotton.
6. Step 5: the Indian Desert
- Lies to the west of the Aravali Hills.
- An undulating sandy plain covered with sand dunes.
- Rainfall is below 150 mm a year, so it is dry with little plant cover.
- Streams appear in the rainy season and then sink into the sand. The Luni is the only large river.
7. Step 6: the Coastal Plains
Western coast vs Eastern coast
- Western Coastal Plain
- narrow, between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea Konkan (Mumbai–Goa), Kannad, Malabar
- Eastern Coastal Plain
- wide and level, along the Bay of Bengal Northern Circar (north), Coromandel (south)
Big rivers of the east (Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Kaveri) build wide deltas on the eastern plain.
Chilika Lake in Odisha, south of the Mahanadi delta, is the largest salt-water lake in India.
8. Step 7: the Islands
- Lakshadweep (Arabian Sea), close to the Kerala coast: small coral islands. The administrative headquarters is Kavaratti.
- Andaman and Nicobar (Bay of Bengal): larger, more numerous and spread out; they are the raised tops of underwater mountains. They lie close to the Equator, so they have a hot, wet climate and thick forests.
9. Memory shortcuts (now that you understand)
Six divisions in Aman's travel order: mountains → plains → desert → plateau → coast → islands. Himalaya heights, north to south: about 6,000 → 3,700–4,500 → 900–1,100 m. Himadri, Himachal, Shiwalik: highest, middle, lowest. Ghats: West = high and unbroken. East = low and broken (rivers cut through). Coasts: West = narrow, no big deltas. East = wide, big deltas. Narmada = the line between the Central Highlands and the Deccan.
10. Quick check
Which is the outermost and lowest range of the Himalaya?
Show answer
Correct answer: C
The Shiwaliks are the southernmost (outermost) range, about 900 to 1,100 m high, made of loose river sediments.
Option A: Himadri is the innermost and highest range, average about 6,000 m.
Option B: Himachal is the middle range, mostly 3,700 to 4,500 m.
Option D: The Karakoram lies far to the north, beyond the three parallel Himalayan ranges.
Hint: The range closest to the plains is the lowest.
The Indian Desert lies on which side of the Aravali Hills?
Show answer
Correct answer: B
The Indian Desert lies to the west of the Aravali Hills. It is a dry sandy plain with less than 150 mm of rain a year.
Option A: East of the Aravali lie the Malwa plateau and the plains, not the desert.
Option C: North of the Aravali lie the Punjab and Haryana plains.
Option D: South of the Aravali is Gujarat and the Malwa region.
Hint: Look for the sandy area near the Pakistan border on the map.
On which coastal plain do the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri form deltas?
Show answer
Correct answer: C
These rivers flow east into the Bay of Bengal. The Eastern Coastal Plain is wide and level, so they build large deltas there.
Option A: The Konkan coast is part of the narrow western plain on the Arabian Sea.
Option B: The Malabar coast is the southern part of the western plain, in Kerala.
Option D: The Kannad plain is the middle part of the western plain.
Hint: Which sea do these four rivers reach?
The Lakshadweep islands are mainly made of what?
Show answer
Correct answer: B
Lakshadweep is a group of small coral islands close to the Kerala coast.
Option A: Volcanic rock is linked with Barren Island in the Andaman Sea, not Lakshadweep.
Option C: Granite forms the core of the Great Himalaya, not these islands.
Option D: River sand builds deltas and plains, not islands in the open sea.
Hint: Tiny sea creatures build these islands over a very long time.
Class 9 students keep mixing up plains and plateaus. What should the teacher do first?
Show answer
Correct answer: B
A hands-on model lets students see that a plateau is high with a flat top and a plain is low and flat. Linking the model to map colours builds map reading.
Option A: Repeating words does not change the picture in the child's mind.
Option C: Copying is passive and does not correct the confusion.
Option D: Skipping leaves the misconception in place.
Hint: Learning by doing works best for shapes of land.
Mixing up the two coasts and the two Ghats. The Western Ghats are higher and continuous; the Western coastal plain is narrow. The Eastern Ghats are lower and broken; the Eastern coastal plain is wide with big deltas. Also: the Shiwaliks are the lowest Himalayan range, not the highest.
Start from their place: ask "Is our town flat, hilly or sandy? Near a river or the sea?" Mark it on the relief map first. Make landforms: in groups, build mountains, plains and a plateau in a sand tray or with clay; pour water to show how rivers carry soil down to the plains. Colour code: give an outline map; students shade green, yellow and brown using the relief map, and add a legend, north arrow and title. Travel story: each group plans a trip that crosses three divisions and describes the land, weather and work of people. Include everyone: a raised clay relief map helps visually impaired learners feel the high and low land. Check understanding: show photographs of a dune, a delta, a snow peak and a plateau edge; students name the division of each.
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