“e o dary Tea her’s Trai i g for “e ior

Grade Scale

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NORTH INDIAN MOUNTAINS

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EXTENT OF THE HIMALAYAS

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 Index

• Introduction
• Physiography
• Climate
• Soils
• Natural Vegetation and Animals
• Population and Settlements

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 Introduction
• This is a mountain range of the Indian subcontinent
• Physiography of The Northern and North Eastern mountain ranges
comprise of a great arc of Himalayas and Patkoi ranges
• The Himalayas separate the Indian Sub-continent from the Tibetan Plateau
• The main Himalayan range extends from the west to east direction
between the river Indus and the river Brahmaputra
• The Kashmir Himalayas width is around 400km
• The Arunachal Pradesh Himalayas width is around 150km i.e. it reduces
towards the east

 Importance of Himalayas
• Protects India by preventing the chilling cold dry Arctic winds from
entering India
• Blocks the moisture laden monsoon winds from escaping towards the
north. Hence India gets sufficient rainfall
• The Himalayas also form the source region of a large number of rivers

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Physiography

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 Physiography
• The North Indian mountains comprise Himalayas and its associated mountains.
• It is a group of ranges which can be divided as follows :-
 Himalayas
 The Shiwalik Range
 The Lesser Himalayas or Himachal Range
 The Great Himalayas or Himadri
 Trans Himalayan Ranges
 Karakoram Range
 Ladakh Range
 Kailas Range

 Himalayas – The division of Himalayas

from west to east :
 The Western Himalayas
 The Central Himalayas
 The Eastern Himalayas

 Associated Mountains
 Rivers
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 Physiography – Himalayas – The
Shiwalik Range
 Southern most range of the
Himalayan system

 Average altitude varies between

900 and 1100m

 Area between Shiwaliks and the

lesser Himalayas consist of a
number of valleys

 These valleys are more or less

parallel to the ranges

 Such valleys are known as DUN

 Eg : Dehra Dun, Kotli Dun, Patli

Dun

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Physiography – Himalayas – The Lesser
Himalayas or Himachal Range
 This range lies to the south of Himadri or
the Great Hi alaya ra ge a d it’s
altitude is less than 4500m.

 It comprises Pir Panjal range in Kashmir

and Dhaula Dhar in Himachal Pradesh

 Being accessible from the plains and

having moderate elevation the lesser
Himalayas have maximum number of
tourist attractions

 The valleys of Kashmir, Kullu – Manali and

Kangra are the best examples

 In Sikkim, Bhutan and further east, the

lesser Himalayas are criss crossed by a
number of rivers and hence they appear
more broken as compared to the
Western and Central parts
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Physiography – Himalayas – The Great
Himalayas or Himadri
 The highest ranges rise abruptly as
much as 8000 meters and are
covered with snow.

 It is the source of a large number of

glaciers of varying dimensions

 A number of rivers originating in

the north of this range cut across
and form deep gorges and move
towards the south

 However, compared to the other

two Himalayan ranges, the Himadri
is more massive.

 The Great Himalayan range runs in

a Northwest to Southeast direction
in the Western part
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 Physiography – Himalayas – Trans
Himalayan Ranges
 These ranges are a part
of the Himalayan system
lying between the main
Himalayan ranges and
the Tibet Plateau

 They are 40km wide and

965km long

 Consist mainly of
Karakoram, Ladakh and
Kailash ranges

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 Physiography – Himalayas – Trans
Himalayan Ranges
 Karakoram Range
 The Karakoram located in the
northeastern part of the state of
Jammu and Kashmir, is one of the
major ranges of the Himalayan
system
 It is the home of highest
concentration of peaks rising over
8000m
 K2 (8611m) is the second highest
peak in the world and the highest
peak in India
 It runs for a distance of 500km
and is a heavily glaciated part of
the world outside the polar
regions

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 Physiography – Himalayas – Trans
Himalayan Ranges
 Ladakh Range

 It is more or less like a huge high

altitude plateau region.

 It is located between the

Karakoram range and the main
Himalayan range

 As it lies in the rain shadow area,

the Ladakh has turned into a high
altitude desert or what can be
des ri ed as a old desert
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 Physiography – Himalayas – Trans
Himalayan Ranges
 Kailas Range

 This range lies entirely outside

Indian territory

 The Kailas peak and Mansarovar

are the prime attractions for
pilgrims

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 Physiography – Himalayas – Division
• From west to east the Himalayas can also be divided into three regions :-

 The Western Himalayas

 It extends from the Indus river in the west to Kali river along the Nepal
border, in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand
 Physically western Himalayas can be divided into three divisions –
Kashmir Himalayas, Himachal Himalaya and Kumaun Himalayas

 The Central Himalayas

 It stretches from river Kali to river Tista
 Its eastern part is called the Sikkim Himalayas and the Darjeeling
Himalayas
 This region has a considerable impact on the water resources of Tarai and
Central Plain region

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 Physiography – Himalayas – Division
 The Eastern Himalayas
 It stretches between the Tista and Brahmaputra rivers
 It occupies Arunachal Pradesh and Bhutan
 The Eastern Himalayas are also called the Arunachal Pradesh Himalayas
 The Arunachal Pradesh Himalayas have a number of passes
 Jelep La in Sikkim and Bum La in Arunachal Pradesh are main routes to the
Tibetan capital Lhasa
 Due to heavy rainfall, erosion is very active over these ranges

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Physiography – Associated Mountains

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Physiography – Rivers

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 Physiography – Rivers
• Most of the Himalayan rivers are • River Bhagirathi originates at Gangotri
perennial in nature This river is joined by river Alaknanda at
• They are fed by rains during the Dev Prayag and the combined flow is
monsoon season and by the melting
of the snow during the summer called as the River Ganga
season • It passes through Uttarakhand, Uttar
• These rivers are in their young stage Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal and
• They have carved a number of enters Bangladesh
erosional features like deep gorges, • The Yamuna, Ramganga, Ghaghra,
V-shaped valleys, rapids and water Gandak and Kosi are the important
falls
tributaries of the Ganga
• The main Himalayan river system are
the Indus, the Ganga and the • The Brahmaputra rises in Tibet and
Brahmaputra systems runs a long distance eastwards till it
• The Indus, which is one of the great enters India in Arunachal Pradesh
rivers of the world, rises near • The principal tributary of Brahmaputra
Mansarovar in Tibet and flows in India is River Subansiri
through India and Pakistan, before
emptying in the Arabian sea • The river Brahmaputra passes through
• Its important tributaries flowing in Assam, then enters Bangladesh before
Indian territory are the Satluj, Beas, joining the Bay of Bengal
Ravi, Chenab and Jhelum
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 Climate
• Rainfall

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 Soils
• South facing slopes have a fairly thick soil cover, supporting dense forest
• Ideally suited for growing fruit trees
• Example – Tea – Darjeeling, Assam

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 Natural Vegetation and Animals
• Over 52% of total areas of the Indian Himalayan region is covered by forest
• Classification of Himalayan vegetation
o Tropical
o Subtropical
o Temperate
o Alpine
• Eastern Himalayas – Tropical evergreen rain forest
• Central Himalayas - Tropical evergreen rain forest
• Western Himalayas – Sal forest
o Wet Sal forest – High Plateus
o Dry Sal Forest – Height of upto 1400 meters
o Temperate mixed forest – Height between 1400 – 3400m Eg. Chinar
o Alpine Forest – Height of 3400 – 4500m

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 Natural Vegetation and Animals
Foot hill zone Higher Elevations Bird Life
Asiatic black bears Snow leopards Magpies
Langurs Brown Bears Whistling thrushes
Himalayan goats Lesser pandas
Antelopes Tibetan yaks (used as beast
of burden in Ladakh)
Indian Phinoceros
(Endangered)
Kashmir stag (Near
Extinction)
Whistling
Kashmir Stag Tibetan Yaks Magpies
thrushes

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 Population and Settlements
• Consists of a large number of tribes who migrate from place to place
• Ratio is
– 80% rural population
– 20% urban population

Tribe Location Occupation

Gaddi tribe Himachal Pradesh Large herds of sheep
and goats
Gujjar tribe Jammu and Kashmir Herds of sheep, goats
and cattle
Chamba tribe Upper Indus valley, Nomadic Herdsmen
North eastern Kashmir
region
Ladakhi tribe Upper Indus valley, Settled on terraces and
North eastern Kashmir alluvial fans of Indus
region River
Abor tribe Arunachal Pradesh Practice shifting
agriculture
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 Population and Settlements
Gaddi Tribe Gujjar Tribe

Chamba Tribe Abor Tribe

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