Question

Why the river of penninsula rivers are well defined rigid wrt himalayan river?

Answer 1

Indian rivers can be categorized into two broad categories i.e. Himalayan and Peninsular Rivers.

Ø Himalayan rivers have their origin in high Himalayan mountain and gradually coming down on plains and debouching themselves into Bay of Bengal.

Ø This is not the case with the Peninsular Rivers. These rivers have their origin in Western Ghats which about 2000 metres above sea level thus not too high vis-à-vis to their Himalayan counterpart. Secondly the Peninsular Plateau over which peninsular rivers flows are hard, rigid and not sandy, alluvial in nature as in the North India. Thus, here two features do not give too much scope, to change their river course. Surface in this region are made of the rocks like Gneiss, metamorphic features. Thus, the Peninsular rivers like Godavari River, Krishna, Vaigai etc. have their well defined rigid channels in sharp contrast to Himalayan Rivers.

Ø Peninsular Rivers flowing through Western Ghats, does not find enough scope to carry enough alluvial soil or sediments to let it spread over at the surface of the Plateau. This factor also reduces the chances of non-well defined rigid channels.