The broadest geomorphic division of India . 1. the peninsular India , 2. the extra-peninsular India 3.

the indo-gangetic plain also correspond to the three broadest tectonic divisions. The peninsular India comprises the Indian shield and its phanerozoic and proterozoic covers.

The extra peninsular constitutes a part of the alpine Himalayan tertiary mountain belts the geomorphic characters of these young mountains are in contrast to largely peneplained and plateau mountains of the peninsular India.

The indo- gangetic plain extends from the mouth of Indus river drainage in to Arabian sea in the west through the northern plains of India to the great deltaic sunderban where the ganga and brahmputra river system together drain in to bay of Bengal . quaternary alluvial sediments covering the indo-gangetic plain where accumulated in a great trough between the peninsular and extra peninsular regions

The above mentioned three geomorphic divisions are further subdivided in to tectonic units of small order . each of these tectonic units is characterized by its own set of geological features.

Areal extent of each tectonic unit has , at the same time, expanded and vaned during the course of its evolution .thus a tectonic unit often overlapped the neighbouring tectonic unit during a certain interval of geologic time. Morever its sometimes difficult to distinguish the basic criteria of tectonic zonation of the earths surface as natural boundaries are generally of gradational types. For example certain orogenic movements recorded in the form of a rock succession may be exceptionally slow whereas certain epierogenic movements recorded in other succession of rocks of the neighbouring region may be relatively faster . at the boundaries of these two types of regions i.e. , orogenic and epierogenic , the rock characters may show extremely gradational and fused boundary

Peninsular india
The peninsular India is characterized by extremely varied physiography. It comprises a complex association of plateau mountains with widely distributed drainage , peneplained ancient folded mountains , massifs , elongate graben like valleys and coastal plains . the western ghats , running from the tapti river in the north to cape comorin in the south, are the most important orographic features along the western fringe of the peninsular India . the northern half of the western ghats having plateau mountain characters belong to a younger tectonic element where as the southern half exposes the rocks of the Indian shield. The differing geologiacal characters are reflected in the geomorphic features . The second group of plateau mountains is situated in the central northern parts of the peninsula . it comprises malwa range along the northern slopes of the narmada valley, bhander and kaimur ranges along the son valley and the main vindhyan plateau of central India. The Indian shield exposed in four regions have distinctly different structural geomorphical trends , viz, NNW-SSE directly low lying ranges of the southern part of western ghats , a loosely connected NE-SW ternding eastern ghats, e-w satpura and mahadeva ranges in central India , and ne sw trending aravalli ranges of north western peninsula. The shillong plateau is considerd as an extinction of satpura trend. Elongate graben like valleys include e-w trending narmada son- damodar valleys and nw-se directed mahanadi and godavari valleys . large coastal plains are extensively developed along northwestern , southeastern and southwestern tips of the peninsula

Indian shield The Indian shield comprising the Precambrian basement is predominantly made up of the granitic gneisses and migmatites (peninsular gneiss) . in a cross section across the central part of the karnatka and Andhra Pradesh.

The four structural and stratigraphical stages of the basement are discernible . the peninsular gneiss was emplaced after the formation of an older green stone belt which possibly represents the relic of the primordial crust. The gneisses themselves are the basement for the deposition of first sedimentary volcanic sequence which is now represented by a newer greenstone belt. Accordingly the peninsular gneiss is is known as fundamental gneiss. I.e basement for all the succeeding rock formations. The

fourth stage of evolution of the Indian is characterized by the intrusion of large granitic plutons . The Precambrian basement of the indian craton hgas been delineated in to four sub units accorinfg to their characterstics structural trends that are well reflected in orographic trends of these regions . these subunits are known as area of

Dharwar folding Eastern gharts folding Aravalli folding Satpura folding The structural trends of