Test: Indo-Gangetic Plain - UPSC MCQ

• It was in the news due to Nepalese constitution issues.

• The Northern plains can be divided into four regions - two are discussed here.

• After descending from the mountains, the rivers deposit pebbles in a narrow belt of about 8 to 16km in width lying parallel to the slopes of the Shivalik. It is known as bhabar.

• All the streams disappear in this bhabar belt. South of this belt, the streams and rivers re-emerge and create a wet, swampy and marshy region known as terai. This was a thickly forested region full of wildlife. The forests have been cleared to create agricultural land and to settle migrants from Pakistan after partition.

• India's third geological division comprises the plains formed by the river Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra Originally.

• It was a geo-synclinal depression that attained its maximum development during the third phase of the Himalayan mountain formation approximately 64 million years ago.

• Since then, it has been gradually filled by the sediments brought by the Himalayan and Peninsular rivers Average depth of alluvial deposits in these plains ranges from 1,000 to 2,000 m.

Geosyncline

• It is a linear trough of subsidence of the Earth's crust within which vast sediment accumulate.

• The filling of a geosyncline with thousands or tens of thousands of feet of sediment is accompanied in the late stages of deposition by folding, crumpling, and faulting of the deposits, the intrusion of crystalline igneous rock and regional uplift along the axis of the trough generally complete the history of a particular geosyncline, which is thus transformed to a belt of folded mountains,

• According to the variations in relief features, the Northern plains can be divided into four regions.

• After descending from the mountains, the rivers deposit pebbles in a narrow belt of about 8 to 16 km in width lying parallel to the slopes of the Shivalik.

• It is known as bhabar. All the streams disappear in this bhabar belt. South of this belt, the streams and rivers re-emerge and create a wet, swampy and marshy region known as Terai. This was a thickly forested region full of wildlife.

The forests have been cleared to create agricultural land and to settle migrants from Pakistan after partition. Dudhwa National Park is located in this region.

The largest part of the northern plain is formed of older alluvium. They lie above the flood plains of the rivers and present a terrace-like feature. This part is known as bhangar. The soil in this region contains calcareous deposits locally known as kankar. The newer, younger deposits of the flood plains are called khadar. They are renewed almost every year and so are fertile, thus, ideal for intensive agriculture.

1. Bangar soils are less prone to floods. - This statement is correct. Bangar represents the older alluvium in the riverine system of the northern plains and lies above the flood plains. It is not regularly replenished by floodwaters, hence, less prone to floods.

2. Bangar soils are nothing but new alluvial soils. - This statement is incorrect. It's actually the Khadar soils that are the newer or young alluvial soils, replenished by annual floods, making them more fertile. Bangar, in contrast, consists of older alluvium.

3. Bangar soils are more fertile than Khadar soils. - This statement is incorrect. Khadar soils, being newer alluvium replenished by annual floods, are more fertile than Bangar soils, which are older and have been leached due to the absence of such replenishment.

4. Khadar plains are those that are low-lying next to a river. - This statement is correct. Khadar lands are newer alluvial plains found in the lower areas and are prone to flooding, which also makes them more fertile due to the newer sediments deposited by river floods.

• Terai is a belt of marshy grasslands, savannahs, and forests located south of the outer foothills of the Himalayas, the Siwalik Hills, and north of the Indo- Gangetic Plain of the Ganges, Brahmaputra and their tributaries.

• The Terai belongs to the Terai-Duar savanna and grasslands ecoregion. In northern India, the Terai spreads eastward from the Yamuna River across Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. The region is famous for rice and sugarcane cultivation.

• According to the variations in relief features, the Northern plains can be divided into four regions.

• After descending from the mountains, the rivers deposit pebbles in a narrow belt of about B to 16 km in width lying parallel to the slopes of the Shivalik. It is known as bhabar. All the streams disappear in this bhabar belt.

• The streams and rivers re-emerge and create a wet, swampy and marshy region known as terai South of this belt. This was a thickly forested region full of wildlife. The forests have been cleared to create agricultural land and to settle migrants from Pakistan after partition.

The Terai is the most productive region in Nepal, with the majority of the country's industries. Agriculture is the basis of the economy. Major crops include rice, wheat, pulses, sugarcane, jute, tobacco, and maize. In the eastern districts from Parsa to Jhapa, they support agro-based industries: jute factories, sugar mills, rice mills and tobacco factories.

The Luni is a river of western Rajasthan state, India. It originates in the Pushkar valley of the Aravalli Range, near Ajmer and ends in the marshy lands of Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, after travelling a distance of 495 km. Sambar lake - salty lake in Rajasthan.

Moreover, since the terrain is sandy, the river cannot cut a deep bed. A wider channel is created as the river moves forward and when there is more water, the banks overflow instead of deepening the river bed. So wide and shallow the river becomes, that it can evaporate from the surface.

Luni then flows into the Thar Desert and meets its end in Barine, located at the north-eastern part of the marsh called the Rann of Kutch in Gujarat, without flowing into any larger water body.

• Sabarmati River is one example that originates in Rajasthan (Udaipur) and meets the Arabian Sea.

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  Only a few rivers in Rajasthan do not drain into the sea. They drain into salt lakes and get lost in the sand with no outlet to the sea.

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  Besides these, the Desert Rivers flow for some distance and are lost in the desert. These are Luni, Machhu, Rupen, Saraswati, Banas, Ghaggar and others.

Thar Desert, also called Great Indian Desert, arid region of rolling sand hills on the Indian subcontinent. It is located partly in Rajasthan state, northwestern India, and partly in Punjab and Sindh (Sind) provinces, eastern Pakistan. Thar (Great Indian) Desert.

The Great Plains of India is located to the north and south of the Shiwalik

• It is the alluvial deposits of rivers

• The average depth of the alluvium deposit increases from south to north

Paddy and jute are the correct answer.