Coastal Plains of India

  • To the east and west of the peninsular plateau, two narrow strips of plain lands are found , which are respectively called Eastern Coastal Plain and Western Coastal Plain.
  • Eastern Coastal and Western Coastal Plain are formed by the erosional and depositional & activities of the Sea waves and from the sediments brought by the peninsular rivers.

Indian Coastal plains

Western Coastal plain
  • Westeren coastal plain is 10 to 15 km wide and is narrower than eastern coastal plain.
  • Western coast is divided into 4 parts:
    1. Kathiawar coast (Gujarat coast)
    2. Konkan coast (Maharstra coast)
    3. Canara coast(Karnataka coast)
    4. Malabar coast (Kerala coast)
  • The Gujarat coastal plains are built up by alluvium brought by Sabarmati, Mahi, Narmada and Tapti rivers, all of which form large estuaries.
  • Malabar coast contains lakes, lagoons and backwaters locally called Kayals.
  • Vembaned Lake (Kerala) is largest of such back water lakes.

Eastern Coastal plain
  • Eastern coastal plain is 50 to 60 km wide and is broader than western coastal plain
  • The eastern coast is mainly emergent type i.e. its outline is regular and is characterized by offshore bars, sea beaches, sand ridges and lagoons.
  • Tamil Nadu coast is called Coromandel coast while Odisha and West Bengal coast is called Northern Circar coast.
  • Most of the east flowing rivers follow zig-zag path and are more border as compared to west flowing rivers. So, these east flowing rivers from delta where as west flowing rivers (like Narmada and Tapti) from estuary.
  • For example: Sunderbans delta of Ganga-Bhramaputra in West Bengal, Mahanadi delta, Godavari delta etc.
  • Region of Mahanadi delta is called Utkal Plain.

Difference between Western and Eastern Coastal plain.

S.No
Western Coastal plain
Eastern Coastal plain
1 Dissected outline Smooth outline
2 Occurrence of estuaries Occurence of deltas
3 More rainfall Less rainfall
4 Narrower Braoder
5 Small rivers Long rivers

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