Punjab - Geography
The word "Punjab" literally means five waters as the fertile plains of Punjab are drained by five rivers – Chenab, Jhelum, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej. Punjab state is situated in the north-west of the Indian Union approximately between 29° 33' and 32° 32' N latitude and 73° 54' and 76° 56' E longitude. Punjab is one of the smallest states covering an area of 50,372 sq. km forming 1.6 per cent of the total area of the country.
The state is flanked by Pakistan on the west, Jammu & Kashmir on the north, Himachal Pradesh on its northeast and Haryana and Rajasthan on the south. Searing summers, torrential monsoons and cool winters depict the climatic conditions of the landscape that is drained by the Ravi, Beas, Sutlej and Ghaggar rivers and their tributaries.
The state of Punjab is wedged between Pakistan on the west, Jammu & Kashmir on the north, Himachal Pradesh on the north-east and Haryana and Rajasthan on the south. Physically, the topography of Punjab can be divided into the upper portion of the sub-Shivalik area and the rest of Punjab is situated on the Sutlej - Ghaggar river basin. The low Shivalik Hills demarcate the Himalayas from the plains. Rupnagar, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur districts fall in this zone and run like a wall from north-west to south-east, dividing the Himachal valleys of Sirsa and Una. Topographical changes due to the formation of Himalayas in the recent geographical past gave a basin-like structure to Punjab. The plains of Punjab lie between altitudes 180 meters and 300 meters above sea level.
Most of the Punjab lies in a fertile, alluvial plain with many rivers and an extensive irrigation canal system. A belt of undulating hills extends along the northeastern part of the state at the foot of the Himalayas. Its average elevation is 300 meters above sea level, with a range from 180 meters in the southwest to more than 500 meters around the northeast border. The southwest of the state is semiarid, eventually merging into the Thar Desert. The Shiwalik Hills extend along the northeastern part of the state at the foot of the Himalayas.
Physiographically the state may be divided into three parts: (i) The Sivalik hills in the north-east with an elevation of 300 to 1,000 metres; (ii) the narrow undulating foothill zone dissected by closely spaced torrents (choes), several of which terminate in the plain below without joining any stream; (iii) the flat alluvial plains of sub-mountain tract which is narrow and constitutes the small strips of the territory stretching between the Himalaya and the Indo-Gangetic plains into which the spurs of the Himalaya run.
The upper portion of the districts of Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur and Ropar lie in this region. The flat alluvial plains form the largest natural region of the state comprizing the eight remaining districts Amritsar, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Sangrur, Bhatinda and Ferozepur. The three snow-fed perennial rivers the Satluj, Beas and Ravi flowing through the state, and the 95 tributaries of the Indus river serve as the most important source of irrigation. The sub-mountain region has forests and hilly soils which are slightly acidic and rich in humus. The soil in the districts of Ferozepur and Bhatinda is sandy and arid. Alluvial soils covers the remaining districts of the state.
The soil characteristics are influenced to a limited extent by the topography, vegetation and parent rock. The variation in soil profile characteristics are much more pronounced because of the regional climatic differences. Punjab is divided into three distinct regions on the basis of soil types: southwestern, central, and eastern.
Punjab falls under seismic zones II, III, and IV. Zone II is considered a low-damage risk zone; zone III is considered a moderate-damage risk zone; and zone IV is considered a high-damage risk zone.
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