The Great Northern Plain

The Great Northern Plain :
It lies to the south of the Himalayas. It extends from the Punjab Plain in the west to the Brahmaputra valley in the east for a distance of about 2,500 km . It is 145 to 480 km broad. It is bound by the mighty Himalaya in the north and by the Vindhyas in the south. It is one of the richest plains of the world. It is made up of the fertile alluvial soil brought down by the Indus, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers and their tributaries. This plain is extremely level and is the most thickly populated region of India.

The Great Plain has two river basins. The Indus Basin is drained by the Indus and its tributaries -the Satluj, the Beas, the Ravi, the Chenab and the Jhelum. All these river flow into the Arabian Sea.

The Ganga Basin is drained by the Ganga and its tributaries, i.e. the Yamuna, Ghaghara, Gandak, Kosi and the Tista, which rise in the Himalayas and the Chambal, Betwa, Son and the Damodar which rise in the Vindhyas or the Chhota Nagpur region. The Ganga and the Brahmaputra join together before falling into the Bay of Bengal and form a very fertile delta which is the largest delta in the world . The density of population is the highest in this basin. 

The Ganga and the Brahmaputra rivers drain into the Bay of Bengal. They form a delta when they join the sea. A delta is a triangular area of land which is formed at the mouth of the river when it falls into the sea. The Ganga-Brahmaputra rivers form the Sundarbans Delta.

The Thar Desert : 
 As we proceed westward in the Great Northern Plain, we find trees disappearing and the climate becoming somewhat hotter. This part is called the Thar Desert which is devoid of plants and trees. The rocky terrain is covered with sand.

The Coastal Plain : 
The Deccan Plateau is flanked by the narrow coastal plains in the east and the west. The Western Coastal Plain lies between the Western Ghats and the Arabian Sea. Its northern part is called Konkan and the southern part Malabar. The natural harbours of Mumbai and Marmagao are located on the western coast. The Eastern Coastal Plain lies between the Bay-of Bengal and the Eastern Ghats. Its southern part is called the Coromandel Coast. It contains deltas of the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and the Kaveri. The northern part of the eastern coast is called the Northern Circars. In this part lie West Bengal and Orissa.

Various rivers flow in the plateau of Deccan. The Narmada and Tapi rivers flow from east to west and fall into the Arabian Sea. On the other hand, the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna and Kaveri rivers flow from west to east and fall into the Bay of Bengal. The Godavari is the longest river of the Deccan Plateau.