GEOGRAPHICAL ZONES OF THE WORLD

Earth is divided into five distinct zones based on their climatic conditions, known as geographical zones. These zones are:

The North Frigid Zone

It is northernmost part of the globe and is characterized by the freezing temperatures and Long winters.

The North Temperate Zone

The South Temperate Zone

The Torrid Zone

This zone represent closest to the equator which lies between the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn. It represent the largest geographical zone on earth, covering an estimated 40% of planet’s area.

The South Frigid Zone

Like the north frigid zone, this zone is characterized by freezing temperatures and having the midnight sun. Temperature experienced in south Frigid zone are among the lowest on earth.

BIOGEOGRAPHIC ZONES OF INDIA

1. TRANS-HIMALAYAN REGION

Himalayan range immediately north of the Great Himalayan range are called Trans-Himalayas. It comprises 3 biogeographic provinces : Ladhakh mountains,

Tibetan plateau and Himalayan Sikkim. Accounts for ~5.6% of country landmass. Region mostly lies between 4500 to 6000m and is cold and arid.

2. HIMALAYAS

2400km long Himalayas consist of he youngest mountains in the world. It comprises 3 biogeographical provinces : Northwest Himalayas, West Himalayas,, central Himalayas and East Himalayas which constitute about 6.4% of country’s area. Oak, Chestnut, ash, pine and deodar are abundant in himalayas. Important animals are deer, musk, wild sheep, mountain goats etc.

3. THE INDIAN DESERT

It consist of two biogeographical provinces. The larger one is the THAR Desert adjoining Pakistan and which comprises Rajasthan and parts of Punjab & Haryana. It occupies an area of 170,000km2. The climate is very hot and dry in summer and cold in winter. The Rann of Kutch which lies in Gujrat is second province. It is salt marsh that create partition between Pakistan and India. It is home to many resident and migratory bird populations including greater flamingo, lesser florican and houbra bustard.

4. SEMI-ARID AREA

It is a zone between the desert and the denser forest of the western ghats. The natural vegetation found is the Thorn forest. The region is characterized by the discontinuous vegetation cover with open areas of bare soil and soil-water deficit throughout the year.

5. WESTERN GHATS

These are mountains along the west coast of peninsular India. This zone extends from Kanyakumari in south to Tapti river in north. The ghat is situated on 2700m

elevation from sea level. Rich in evergreen forests. It has 4000 species of higher plants which accounts of 27% of India’s 15000 species. Rainfall is heavy about 2000mm in this region. Forest have been replaced by tea, coffee, rubber, cardamom etc.

6. DECCAN PENINSULA

It covers 43% of Indian sub-continent. The zone contains some more conserved forest area of India in MP, Maharashtra and Orissa. It is premier area for the deciduous forest, thorn forest. Only a small area evergreen forest occur.

Most wild species are widespread throughout the zone, eg Nilgai, Chital, Elephant.

7. GANGETIC PLAIN

This is the largest unit of the Great Plain of India. Ganga is the main river after which this plain is named.

This is divided into Three zones:

1. Upper Plain of Ganga (from Delhi to Allahabad)
2. Middle Plain of Ganga (from Allahabad to Bihar)
3. Lower plain of Ganga (in West Bengal)
   

This is one of the most fertile area and has a length and width of 2400km and 240-320km respectively.

8. NORTH-EAST INDIA

Of all zones in India, perhaps this zone is richest in communities , in species and in endemics.  About 40% of total surface area distributed in states of Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya,

Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura is forest. North-East India is the transition zone between the Indian, Indo-Malayan and Indo-Chinese region.

9. ISLAND

There are two islands : Andaman and Nicobar Island located in Bay of Bengal and Lakshadweep island, located in Arabian Sea and consist of 43 small islands.

Andaman and Nicobar island consists 348 islands, stretching about 590km. In this zone tropical rain-forest is high. Here 86% area is legally under forest.

10. COAST

India has a coastline of 7516.5km. The Indian coast extending from Runn of Kutch to Bangladesh. The west coast is narrow and extending from Gulf of Cambay to South. The Eastern coast is extending from Bay of Bengal to South with Eastern Ghats. Large part of the coastal plains are covered by fertile soils on which different crops are grown. Rice is the main crop of these areas.