India: Physical Environment and Resource Distribution
This section covers India: Physical Environment and Resource Distribution: physiographic divisions, drainage, monsoon climate, soils and vegetation, and the location of minerals and energy resources.
Core rules
- India's physiographic divisions are the Himalayas, Indo-Gangetic Plain, Peninsular Plateau, Coastal Plains and islands. Assam lies in the Eastern Himalaya and the Brahmaputra plain.
- Himalayan rivers are perennial and antecedent; peninsular rivers are seasonal and largely consequent. The Ganga–Brahmaputra–Meghna system dominates the north-east.
- The monsoon arrives in two branches, Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal; the Bay branch brings heavy rain to Assam from June to September. Western disturbances bring winter rain to north India.
- Major soils: alluvial, black (regur), red, laterite, arid and forest. Black soil derives from Deccan lava and is good for cotton.
- Iron ore is concentrated in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh; Gondwana coal in the Damodar and Godavari valleys; petroleum in Assam (Digboi, Naharkatiya), Gujarat and Mumbai High; bauxite in Odisha.
Worked example
Why is a steel plant located near Jharia–Ranchi? Iron ore comes from Singhbhum and adjoining Odisha, coking coal from Jharia, limestone from Palamu, water from the Damodar, and rail links connect the sites. Iron ore and coal are bulky and lose weight in smelting, so proximity to both reduces transport cost. This is a weight-losing industry.
Traps
- Calling black soil alluvial; it is volcanic.
- Saying all Indian coal is Gondwana; Assam has Tertiary coal.
- Assuming monsoon rainfall is evenly distributed.
- Confusing iron-ore and coal belts.