NCERT CLASS 9 SOCIAL SCIENCE: GEOGRAPHY- Chapter 2.

NCERT CLASS 9 GEOGRAPHY CHAPTER 2: PHYSICAL FEATURES OF INDIA

Important questions with answers.

1.      Name the six major physiographic divisions of India.

Answer: The six major physiographic divisions of India are

(i)                 The Himalayan Mountains

(ii)               The Northern Plains

(iii)             The Peninsular Plateau

(iv)             The Indian Desert

(v)               The coastal plains and

(vi)             The Islands.

2.      What is the Height of Kanchenjunga?

Answer: The height of Kanchenjunga is 8598 meters.

3.      Name the largest inhabited riverine island in the world.

Answer: Majuli is the largest riverine island in the world.

4.      Name the largest salt water lake in India.

Answer: The largest saltwater lake in India is the Chilika Lake.

5.      What is the Bhabar?

Answer: The northernmost region of the Northern Plains of India is called the Bhabar. It is the narrow belt of about 8 to 16 Km in width filled up with pebbles lying parallel to the slopes of the Shiwaliks.

6.      Name the three major divisions of the Himalayas from north to south.

Answer: The three major divisions of the Himalayas from north to south are –

(i)                 Inner Himalayas or the Himadri

(ii)               Himachal or lesser Himalaya

(iii)             Shiwaliks.

7.      What are tectonic plates?

Answer: Tectonic plates are huge slabs of solid rocks in the lithosphere which move continuously at a very slow rate. It leads to folding, faulting, and volcanic activity.

8.      Which continents of today were parts of the Gondwana land?

Answer: Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, and Antarctica are the continents of today which were part of the Gondwana land.

9.      Distinguish between

(i)                 Converging and diverging tectonic plates

(ii)               Bhangar and Khadar

(iii)       The Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats.

 Answer:

(i)                 Converging and diverging tectonic plates

·         Converging tectonic plates come towards each other. On the other hand, Diverging tectonic plates move away from each other.

·         Converging tectonic plates form a convergent boundary. On the other hand, diverging tectonic plates form a divergent boundary.

·         Earthquake occurs in converging tectonic plates. On the other hand, volcanic eruption takes place in diverging tectonic plates.

·         Converging tectonic plates leads to the formation of mountains. On the other hand, diverging tectonic plates leads to the formation of a new ocean basin.

(ii)               Bhangar and Khadar

·         Bhangar is old alluvium soil. On the other hand, Khadar is new and younger deposits of the alluvium soil on the flood plains.

·         The Bhanger soil presents a terrace like structure and is formed higher up in the plains. On the other hand, Khadar is found in the lower levels of the plains and is renewed every year.

·         The Bhabar soil is less fertile. On the other hand, Khadar is more fertile soil.

(iii)             Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats

·        The Western Ghats lies on the western side parallel to the western coast. On the other hand, Eastern Ghats lie on the eastern side parallel to the eastern coast.

·         The Western Ghats are continuous. On the other hand, the Eastern Ghats are discontinuous.

·         The highest peak in the Western Ghats is Anai Mudi. On the other hand, the highest peak in the Eastern Ghats is Mahendragiri.

  

10.   Describe how the Himalayas were formed.

Answer: 1000 million years ago, there was only one huge land mass, the supercontinent Pangea. The Pangea broke up and got separated from each other. The southern part of Pangea, the Gondwana land further broke down into several plates. One part of this Gondwana land, the Indo-Australian plate started moving towards the north and collided with the much larger Eurasian plate in the north. This collision resulted in the sedimentary deposition in the earth crust called Tethys to get folded to form the Himalayas.

11.  Give an account of the Northern Plains of India.

Answer: The Northern Plains are formed due to the deposition of sediments that are carried by the rivers from the mountains. This leads to the formation of a very fertile region.

      The Northern plains cover an area of 7 lakh sq Km. It is about 2400 Km in length and 240-320 Km wide.

      The Northern plains can be divided into three parts:

(i)                 The western part  called Punjab plain

(ii)               The Ganga plain, between Ghaggar and Teesta rivers and

(iii)             The Brahmaputra plain, lying to the east of the Ganga plains.

      Based on the relief features, the Northern Plains can be classified as under:

(i)                 Bhabar, the narrow belt of 6 to 8 Km in width filled up with pebbles.

(ii)               Terai, lying south of Bhabar is a wet, swampy and marshy region.

(iii)             Bhangar, formed by old alluvium.

(iv)             Khadar, the younger deposits of the flood plains.

12.  Write short notes on the following.

(i)                 The Indian Desert

(ii)               The Central Highlands

(iii)             The Island groups of India

Answer:

(i)                 The Indian Desert

The Indian Desert lies towards the western margin of the Aravali Hills in the state of Rajasthan. This region is covered with sand dunes.

The Indian Desert receives very little rainfall below 150 mm per year. As this region receives very little rainfall, the vegetation here is very less. Some streams, however, do appear in the rainy season but they disappear into the sand. The only large river in this region is Luni. Barchans, the semi-circle shaped dunes are found in this region.

(ii)               The Central Highlands.

The Peninsular Plateau can be categorized into two broad divisions: the Central Highlands and the Deccan Plateau.

The Central Highlands is the part of the Peninsular plateau which lies north of the river Narmada. It includes a major area of the Malwa plateau.

The Central Highlands is bounded by Aravali range on the North West. Further extension of it merges with the Indian desert. To the south, it is bounded by the Vindhyan range.

The eastward extensions of the Central Highlands are known as Bundelkhand and Baghelkhand. The Chotanagpur plateau marks the further eastward extension.

(iii)             The Island groups of India.

India as two main island groups

(a)    Lakshadweep islands and

(b)   Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The Lakshadweep islands lie in the Arabian Sea. It covers an area of 32 sq Km. The administrative headquarters of the Lakshadweep is the Kavaratti island.

The group of islands lying in the Bay of Bengal is the Andaman and Nicobar islands. Compared to the Lakshadweep islands, the Andaman and Nicobar islands are bigger in size and are more numerous and scattered. The Andaman part lies in the north whereas the Nicobar part lies in the south.