( ) The Northern and North - eastern Mountains ( ) The Northern Plain ( ) The Peninsular Plateau ( ) The Indian Desert ( ) The Coastal Plains ( ) The Islands. The North and Northeastern Mountains The North and Northeastern Mountains consist of the Himalayas and the Northeastern hills. The Himalayas consist of a series of parallel mountain ranges. Some of the important ranges are the Greater Himalayan range, which includes the Great Himalayas and Figure .
: A Gorge Figure . : India : Physical the Trans-Himalayan range, the Middle Himalayas and the Shiwalik. The general orientation of these ranges is from northwest to the southeast direction in the northwestern part of India. Himalayas in the Darjiling and Sikkim regions lie in an eastwest direction, while in Arunachal Pradesh they are from southwest to the northwest direction.
In Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram, they are in the northsouth direction. The approximate length of the Great Himalayan range, also known as the central axial range, is , km from east to west, and their width varies between - km from north to south. It is also evident from the map that the Himalayas stand almost like a strong and long wall between the Indian subcontinent and the Central and East Asian countries. Himalayas are not only the physical barrier, they are also a climatic, drainage and cultural divide.
Can you identify the impact of Himalayas on the geoenvironment of the countries of South Asia? Can you find some other examples of similar geoenvironmental divide in the world? There are large-scale regional variations within the Himalayas. On the basis of relief, alignment of ranges and other geomorphological features, the Himalayas can be divided into the following sub-divisions: (i) Kashmir or Northwestern Himalayas (ii) Himachal and Uttaranchal Himalayas (iii) Darjiling and Sikkim Himalayas (iv) Arunachal Himalayas (v) Eastern Hills and Mountains.
Kashmir or Northwestern Himalayas It comprise a series of ranges such as the Karakoram, Ladakh, Zaskar and Pir Panjal. The northeastern part of the Kashmir Himalayas is a cold desert, which lies between the Greater Himalayas and the Karakoram ranges. Between the Great Himalayas