DEFINITION OF INDO-GANGETIC PLAIN

The Indo-Gangetic Plain is the active

foreland basin of the India-Asia collision, with sediments

derived from erosion of the Himalaya Mountains and carried

by numerous rivers that feed into the Indus and Ganges

Rivers. Alluvial deposits of the Indo-Gangetic Plain stretch

from the Indus River in Pakistan to the Punjab Plain in India

and Pakistan, to the Haryana Plain and Ganges delta in

Bangladesh. Sediments in the foreland basin are up to 24,500

feet (7,500 m) thick over the basement rocks of the Indian

Shield, thinning toward the southern boundary of the basin

plain. The plain has very little relief, with only occasional

bluffs and terraces related to changes in river levels.

The northern boundary of the plain is marked by two

narrow belts known as Terai, containing small hills formed

by coarse remnant gravel deposits emerging from mountain

streams. Many springs emanate from these gravel deposits

forming large swampy areas along the major rivers. In most

places the Indo-Gangetic Plain is about 250 miles (400 km)

wide. The southern boundary of the plain is marked by the

front of the Great Indian Desert in Rajasthan, then continues

eastward to the Bay of Bengal along the hills of the Central

Highlands.

It is possible to divide the Indo-Gangetic Plain into three

geographically and hydrologically distinct sections. The

Indus Valley in the west is fed by the Indus River that flows

out of Kashmir, the Hindu Kush, and the Karakoram Range.

The Punjab and Haryana plains are fed by runoff from the

Siwaliks and Himalaya Mountains into the Ganges River,

and the Lower Ganga and Brahmaputra drainage systems in

the east. The lower Ganga plains and Assam Valley are lush

and heavily vegetated, and the waters flow into the deltaic

regions of Bangladesh.

Clastic sediments of the foreland basin deposits under

the Indo-Gangetic Plain include Eocene-Oligocene (about

50–30-million-year-old) deposits, grading up to the Miocene

to Pleistocene Siwalik clastic rocks eroded from the Siwalik

and Himalayan Ranges. The basement of the Indian Shield

dips about 15° beneath the Great Boundary and other faults

marking the deformation front at the toe of the Himalayas.

See also CONVERGENT PLATE MARGIN PROCESSES; FORELAND

BASIN; HIMALAYA MOUNTAINS.

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